of  California 
n  Regional 
y  Facility 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE 


WORKS 


CHARLES    FOLLEN, 


MEMOIR  OF  HIS  LIFE, 

IN  FIVE  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 


BOSTON: 

H1LLIARD,  GRAY,  AND   COMPANY. 


1842. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1842,  by 

HARRISON   GRAY, 
in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE: 
MET  CALF,  KEITH,  AND  NICHOLS, 

PRINTERS  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


AC* 


V.  I 


CONTENTS. 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

CHAPTER   I. 

MM 
His   Birth.  —  Death  of  his   Mother.  —  His  Father's   Second 

Marriage.  —  Admission  to  the  College  and  University  at 
Giessen. —  Joins  the  Army  as  a  Volunteer.  —  Returns 
home. .  .  .3 

CHAPTER  II. 

Efforts  to  establish  a  Burschenschaft.  —  Condition  of  the  Uni- 
versities. —  Opposition  of  the  Landsmannschaflen.  .  .  21 

CHAPTER  III. 

His  Devotion  to  Study.  —  Receives  his  Degree  at  the  Univer- 
sity. —  Lectures  at  Giessen.  —  Practises  Law.  —  Studies 
the  Deistical  Writers.  —  Takes  up  the  Cause  of  the  Com- 
munities  51 

CHAPTER   IV. 

He  goes  to  Jena.  —  Is  joined  by  Wit.  —  Lectures  on  the  Pan- 
dects.—  Death  of  Kotzebue.  —  Dr.  Follen  is  arrested. — 
Carried  to  Manheim.  —  Is  acquitted  and  returns  to  Giessen.  67 


5STG416 


IV  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Extracts  from  a  Pamphlet  vindicating'Dr.  Follen  from  the  At- 
tacks of  Wit.  —  Character  and  Purposes  of  Wit. —  Charac- 
ter of  Dr.  Pollen.  —  His  Influence  in  the  Universities.  — 
Wit's  Flight  into  France 76 


CHAPTER  VI. 

He  becomes  an  Object  of  Suspicion  to  the  Government. —  Is 
threatened  with  Imprisonment.  —  Leaves  home.  —  Resi- 
dence in  Strasburg.  —  Studies  Architecture.  —  Visits  Paris. 
—  Orders  from  the  Government  that  Foreigners  should 
quit  France. 99 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Receives  an  Invitation  from  the  Cantonal  School  of  the  Gri- 
sons  in  Switzerland.  —  Leaves  Chur  for  Basle.  —  Is  ap- 
pointed Teacher  of  the  Natural,  Civil,  and  Ecclesiastical 
Law  at  Basle. —  He  goes  to  Paris.  —  Returns  to  Basle. — 
He  is  denounced  by  the  Holy  Alliance.  —  He  demands  a 
Trial  by  the  Laws  of  Switzerland.  —  The  Government  of 
Basle  refuse  to  deliver  him  up.  —  An  Order  of  Arrest  is  is- 
sued.—  He  leaves  Basle.  .  ....  105 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

His  Flight  from  Basle.  —  He  goes  to  Paris.  —  Leaves  Paris  for 
Havre.  —  Sails  in  the  Cadmus  for  America.  —  Extracts  from 
his  Journal.  —  He  arrives  in  New  York.  —  Writes  to  La- 
fayette. —  Goes  to  Philadelphia.  —  Prepares  a  Course  of 
Lectures.  —  Is  invited  to  teach  the  German  Language  in 
Harvard  College 121 

CHAPTER  IX. 

He  enters  upon  his  Duties  in  Cambridge. — Lectures  on  the 
Civil  Law  in  Boston.  —  Takes  Charge  of  a  Gymnasium  in 


CONTENTS. 


Boston.  —  Extracts  from  Letters   to  Dr.  Beck.  —  Reading 
Parties  in  Boston.  —  Letter  to  his  Father 150 


CHAPTER  X. 

Teachers'  Meetings  at  Dr.  Channing's  —  Dr.  Follen  resolves 
to  enter  the  Ministry.  —  He  studies  Divinity  with  Dr.  Chan- 
ning.  —  Correspondence  with  Dr.  Channing.  —  He  resigns 
the  Care  of  the  Gymnasium  in  Boston. —  Extracts  from  his 
Journal.  .  172 


CHAPTER  XL 

Dr.  Follen  is  admitted  as  a  Candidate  for  the  Ministry. — 
Commences  Preaching. — He  is  appointed  Teacher  in  the 
Divinity  School,  in  Cambridge.  —  His  Marriage.  —  He  is 
naturalized.  —  The  Birth  of  his  Son.  —  Letter  to  his  Father.  247 


CHAPTER  XII. 

He  preaches  at.  Newburyport.  —  Is  invited  to  become  Pastor  of 
a  Church  there.  —  Accepts  his  Appointment  as  Professor  of 
German  Literature  in  Harvard  College.  —  Extracts  from 
Letters  to  Dr.  Beck.  —  Resigns  his  Office  in  the  Divinity 
School.  —  Lectures  in  Boston  on  Moral  Philosophy.  —  Cor- 
respondence. ......'..  271 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

He  is  inaugurated  as  Professor.  —  His  inaugural  Address. — 
Correspondence  with  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams.  —  His  Eu- 
logy on  Spurzheim.  —  Lectures  on  Schiller.  —  Domestic 
Troubles  —  Death  of  his  Father.  —  Letter  to  his  Mother.  — 
Extracts  from  his  Father's  Letters. —  He  sets,  out  on  a  Jour- 
ney  303 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Letter  to  Mr.  McKay.  —  Correspondence  with  Dr.  Bowring. 
—  He  returns  to  Cambridge.  —  Joins  the  Anti-slavery  So. 


CONTENTS. 


ciety.  —  The  Corporation  decline  continuing  his  Professor- 
ship.—  Plan  of  "  The  Boston  Seminary."  —  Letters  to  Mr. 
Dana.  .  327 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Dr.  Follen  preaches  at  East  Lexington.  —  He  resigns  his  Of- 
fice as  Teacher  of  the  German  Language  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege.—  Removes  to  Watertown.  —  Takes  Charge  of  some 
Pupils.  —  Letter  to  Dr.  Jackson.  —  He  removes  to  Milton. — 
His  Interest  in  the  Anti-slavery  Cause.  —  Letters  to  Harriet 
Martineau.  "\  .  356 


CHAPTER  XVI.        f 

Christmas-tree.  —  Meeting  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society.  — 
Dr.  Follen's  Address.  —  Vindication  of  the  Anti-slavery  So- 
ciety before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  386 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Dr.  Follen  parts  with  his  Pupils.  —  Goes  to  Stockbridge.  — 
Commences  his  Work  on  Psychology.  —  He  takes  a  Jour- 
ney  to  the  West.  —  Preaches  at  Chicago.—  Visits  Mr.  Rapp. 
—  Returns  to  Stockbridge.  —  Letter  to  Harriet  Martineau. — 
Publication  of  "  Religion  and  the  Church."  —  Letter  to  his 
Brother.  —  Accepts  an  Invitation  to  preach  in  New  York.  .  404 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Dr.  Follen  is  ordained  in  Boston.  —  Returns  to  New  York.  — 
Letters  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  Letters  to  Friends.  —  En- 
gages to  preach  for  Six  Months  in  New  York. —  Renews 
his  Engagement  at  New  York  for  One  Year.  —  Goes  to 
Washington 419 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

Dr.  Follen  returns  to  New  York.  —  Lectures  on  Infidelity.  — 
Goes  to  Stockbridge.  —  Letters  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  He 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

returns  to  New  York.  —  Death  of  Lovejoy.  —  Interview  with 
Darusmond.  —  Causes  of  Dr.  Pollen's  leaving  New  York. — 
His  Farewell  Sermon.  ..  ^  .....  445 

CHAPTER  XX. 

He  returns  to  Boston. —  Takes  Lodgings  in  Milton.  —  Psy- 
chology. —  Letter  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  Preaches  at  Can- 
ton. —  Charge  at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Simmons.  —  His 
Idea  of  a  Church.  —  Takes  Lodgings  in  Boston.  —  Takes 
Charge  of  Mr.  Cunningham's  Parish.  —  Lectures  on  Pan- 
theism. —  Letter  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  Dr.  Follen  de- 
termines to  Visit  Switzerland.  —  A  Dream.  .  .  .  485 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Dr.  Follen  is  invited  to  East  Lexington.  —  Takes  Charge  of 
a  Parish  there. — The  Erection  of  a  Church  in  Lexing- 
ton.—  Letters  to  Dr.  Channing. —  Letters  to  Mr.  Tracy. 

—  He  is  invited  to  lecture  in  New  York.  —  Letter  to  Dr. 
Channing '    .        .  515 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Dr.  Follen  delivers  his  Lectures  on  Switzerland. —  Letter  to 
Dr.  Channing.  —  Letters  of  Invitation  to  the  Dedication  of 
the  Church  in  East  Lexington.  —  Departure  for  New  York. 

—  Lectures  on  Schiller.  —  Illness  of  his  Wife.  —  Letter  to 
the   Committee  of  the  Parish  in  Lexington.  —  Dedication 
Sermon.  —  His  Departure  from  New  York.  .  546 


APPENDIX, 

No.  I.  —  Poems.           . 5g5 

II.  —  Prayers 613 

III.  —  Votes  of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  College.      :  617 

IV.  —  Summary  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on  the  Civil  Law.  618 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

V. — « Plan  of  the  Boston  Seminary.        ....  623 

VI.  —  Speech  before  the  Anti-slavery  Society.     .         .         .  627 

VII.  —  List  of  Subjects  for  the  Journal  to  be  entitled  "  All 

Sides."  ,        .        .        .    '    .        .        .        .  634 

VIII.  —  Petition  for  the  Pardon  of  Abner  Kneeland.          .  635 


ERRATA. 

Page  113,  line  18,  for  Yung  read  Jung. 
132,    "    21,  "    fort       "    foot. 


LIFE 


or 


VOL.   I. 


LIFE 

OF 

CHARLES   FOLLEN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

His  Birth. —  Death  of  his  Mother. —  His  Father's  Second  Mar- 
riage.—  Admission  to  the  College  and  University  at  Giessen. 
—  Joins  the  Army  as  a  Volunteer.  —  Returns  home. 

CHARLES  THEODORE  CHRISTIAN  FOLLEN  was 
the  second  son  of  Christopher  Follen,  counsellor  at 
law  and  judge,  first  at  Giessen,  and  then  at  Friedberg 
in  Hesse-Darmstadt.  He  was  born  on  the  4th  of 
September,  1796,  at  the  residence  of  his  paternal 
grandfather  in  Romrod,  whither,  on  account  of  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  French  army  to  Giessen,  his 
mother  had  gone  previously  to  his  birth,  as  this  place 
was  situated  in  a  retired  and  mountainous  region, 
where  it  was  not  probable  that  any  disturbance  would 
occur.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  General  Jour- 
dan,  in  a  rapid  retreat  from  the  peasants  of  Spessart, 
passed  through  the  village  of  Romrod  ;  and,  just  as 
the  ceremony  of  christening  Charles  had  commenced, 
the  hitherto  quiet  house  was  suddenly  filled  with  a 
troop  of  French  soldiers,  with  General  Jourdan  at 
their  head.  His  mother  was  very  weak,  but  fortu- 


4  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

nately  the  disturbance  did  not  last  long  ;  and,  owing 
to  the  judicious  conduct  of  his  grandfather,  quiet  was 
soon  restored,  and  no  evil  consequences  ensued. 

Charles  was  hardly  three  years  old  when  his  moth- 
er died.  She  was  a  gentle  lady,  full  of  loveliness, 
and  endowed  with  the  most  excellent  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart.  She  left  four  children,  three  sons  and  a 
daughter.  The  eldest,  Augustus,  was  sent,  after  the 
death  of  his  mother,  to  Wetzlar,  to  his  maternal 
grandfather  ;  Louisa  and  Paul  to  their  grandfather  at 
Romrod,  while  Charles  alone  remained  with  his  father 
at  Giessen.  Although  he  was  so  young  a  child  at  the 
time  of  his  mother's  death,  he  had  some  perception 
of  the  great  calamity  that  had  befallen  him.  He  re- 
membered, he  said,  his  great  delight  in  standing  by 
the  side  of  his  mother  at  her  looking-glass,  and  seeing 
her  put  pink  ribbons  in  her  hair,  and  how  beautiful 
he  thought  they  looked  there.  He  well  recollected 
his  pleasure  on  her  taking  him  and  his  brother  by  the 
hand,  and  dancing  round  the  room  with  them,  and 
singing  to  them.  Thus  his  first  ideas  of  beauty 
and  pleasure  were  associated  with  the  thought  of  his 
mother  ;  so,  alas  !  were  his  first  ideas  of  sorrow  ;  for 
he  well  remembered  one  sad  day,  when  he  sat  all 
alone  upon  the  great  old-fashioned  stairs,  feeling  as 
if  he  were  forgotten,  and  no  one  of  those  who  passed 
up  and  down  spoke  a  word  to  him,  and  he  heard  a 
bell  toll,  and  felt  that  something  very  sorrowful,  but 
he  knew  not  what,  had  happened,  and  he  cried,  he 
knew  not  why. 

Charles  and  his  father,  with  a  faithful  old  woman 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 


. 

who  had  lived  in  the  Follen  family,  as  a  servant, 
twenty-two  years,  now  formed  the  whole  household  at 
Giessen.  Thus  they  remained,  for  some  time,  in 
undisturbed  solitude  and  quiet. 

It  was  during  this  period,  that  the  strict  and  tender 
union  commenced  between  Charles  and  his  father, 
which  lasted  through  life,  and  which  combined  all 
the  holiness  of  a  natural  affection  with  all  the  pecu- 
liar pleasures  of  a  tender  friendship.  Although  his 
father  was  a  counsellor,  and  had  frequently  affairs  to 
attend  to  that  required  deep  consideration,  he  always 
had  Charles  with  him  in  his  study.  He  was  of  a 
very  excitable  temperament,  and  at  times  was  even 
irascible  ;  but  towards  Charles  he  was  generally  as  for- 
bearing and  gentle  as  he  was  just.  He  would  assist 
him  in  all  his  childish  games,  and,  with  an  almost  in- 
credible patience,  suffer  himself  to  be  interrupted 
by  him,  without  appearing  to  be  disturbed.  He 
has  told  me,  that  he  remembered  stretching  wires 
across  every  part  of  his  father's  study,  and  suspend- 
ing little  bells  upon  them  of  different  tones,  with 
which  he  would  try  to  make  a  tune,  and  that  his 
father  would  stoop  under  them  when  he  went  in  and 
out  of  the  room,  and  make  no  complaint,  not  even  of 
the  noise.  This  tender,  this  unlimited  indulgence 
established  a  peculiar  feeling  of  intimacy  and  of 
confiding  love  between  him  and  his  father,  such 
as  few  boys  are  blessed  with.  -An  anecdote,  re- 
lated by  his  sister  Louisa  in  a  letter  to  me,  shows 
the  nature  of  the  friendship  that  existed  between 
them.  She  says,  "  Our  father  was  in  every  thing 
1* 


6  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

excellent  and  worthy,  excepting  his  temper.  Charles 
was  his  favorite,  yet  he  was  sometimes  impatient 
with  him.  I  well  remember  once,  when  my  father 
angrily  punished  Charles  for  some  fault  he  had  com- 
mitted, that  the  dear  boy  came  up  to  him,  and,  ex- 
tending his  hand,  said,  '  Father,  I  forgive  you.' 
The  anger  of  his  father,  as  his  teacher,  seemed  to 
him  of  more  importance  than  his  own  fault." 

Charles  was  a  little  more  than  seven  years  old, 
when  his  father,  in  1804,  married  again.  This  con- 
nexion was  an  incalculable  blessing  to  the  whole 
family.  They  were  now  all  gathered  together  again 
under  the  same  roof,  in  their  father's  house,  and 
under  the  care  of  a  devoted  mother.  Charles  always 
spoke  of  her  with  a  sincere  and  deep  love  and  re- 
spect ;  and  he  seems  from  the  first  to  have  been  an 
object  of  peculiar  interest  to  her.  She  says,  in  a 
letter  to  me, 

"  The  mode  of  life,  in  which  Charles  had  been 
educated,  had  entirely  separated  him  from  all  inter- 
course with  children.  He  soon  became  accustomed 
to  the  society  of  his  brothers  and  sisters  ;  but  it  was 
very  annoying  to  him  if  another  child  got  possession 
of  any  of  his  playthings,  because  he  had  never  been 
used  to  see  any  one  touch  them.  In  order  to  break 
up  this  habit,  his  father  often  asked  him  for  something, 
which  he  now  and  then  refused  to  surrender.  One 
day  his  father  insisted  upon  his  giving  up  a  little  cane 
of  which  he  was  very  fond.  Charles  said  to  him, 
1  You  are  a  very  good  father  ;  what  you  have  you  give 
to  me,  and  what  I  have  I  keep.' 

((  He  very  soon  became  familiar  with  me,  and,  as 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  7 

he  had  not  yet  received  any  instruction,  I  took  par- 
ticular charge  of  him,  for  he  was  more  than  seven 
years  old,  and  instruction  was  now  very  necessary  for 
him.  We  took  care,  in  the  outset,  that  this  should 
be  light  and  easy  ;  for  he  was  so  distressed  at  his  ig- 
norance, and  at  the  thought  that  he  could  not  learn, 
that  I  was  obliged,  at  first,  to  console  and  en- 
courage him.  For  a  time  I  assisted  him  in  his 
studies  ;  but  ere  long  his  reason  and  perceptive  facul- 
ties were  developed  in  a  remarkable  degree,  and  that 
steady  industry,  so  characteristic  of  him,  soon  ap- 
peared, so  that  he  mounted  from  class  to  class  in 
his  school,  and  was  often  obliged  to  remain  below, 
only  because  his  age  would  not  allow  him  to  go 
higher  ;  and  he  soon  secured  the  entire  love  of 
his  teachers  and  fellow-pupils." 

These  circumstances  account  in  a  measure  for  the 
fact,  that  Dr.  Follen's  recollections  of  his  childhood 
were  not  particularly  happy.  He  has  told  me,  that 
he  did  not,  in  his  childhood,  fully  sympathize  with 
boys,  and  had  not  a  true  relish  for  the  common  pleas- 
ures of  children.  He  was  often  laughed  at  by  them 
for  his  little  peculiarities  ;  and  even  his  father  and  elder 
brother  would  banter  him  upon  them  occasionally. 
This,  he  said,  annoyed  him  exceedingly.  He  was 
too  proud  to  confess  how  much  he  suffered,  and  he 
knew  that  there  was  no  intention  to  hurt  him  ;  but  it 
was  painful  for  him  to  remember  the  violent  fits  of 
anger  and  grief  that  he  endured  in  consequence  of 
these  trials.  He  has  told  me,  that  he  often  wished 
himself  dead,  from  his  desire  to  escape  this  suffering  ; 


8  LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

and  it  was  only  by  great  and  constant  effort,  that  he 
at  last  acquired  that  perfect  self-control,  which  was  a 
distinguishing  trait  of  his  character.  He  had,  when 
he  was  a  child,  rather  delicate  health.  He  was  natu- 
rally very  timid.  He  has  told  me,  that  he  remem- 
bered suffering  very  much  from  fear.  He  had  a 
great  dread  of  passing  a  grave-yard  after  dark  ;  but 
he  soon  resolved  to  conquer  this  weakness,  and  he 
forced  himself  to  go  often  to  this  place  of  terrors, 
and  remain  there  till  he  had  subdued  his  fears.  His 
courage  was  thus  the  result  of  effort  and  experience. 
He  became  truly  fearless. 

Another  source  of  suffering  to  him,  in  his  early 
days,  was  a  tormenting  desire  to  understand  many 
things  of  which  he  could  obtain  no  satisfactory  ex- 
planation ;  he  remembered  often  lying  awake  with 
some  puzzling  question  in  his  mind,  till  he  would 
at  last  get  up,  and  go  into  his  father's  room,  and 
perhaps  wake  him  up  to  beg  him  to  satisfy  his  eager 
curiosity.  His  father  would  sometimes  call  him  a 
foolish  boy,  and  send  him  to  bed  again  ;  and  this  al- 
ways grieved  him. 

He  said  there  was  an  unnatural  seriousness  and 
earnestness  in  his  character,  when  he  was  a  child, 
and  that  it  was  not  till  he  was  a  man,  that  he  could 
learn  to  relish  a  jest. 

The  sudden  death  of  his  little  brother  Herman, 
who  died  of  the  croup,  made  a  very  deep  impres- 
sion upon  his  mind.  He  remembered  some  affecting 
traits  in  his  character,  though  he  was  only  a  child 
when  he  died. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  9 

Dr.  Follen  was  often  amused  at  the  recollection  of 
his  own  childish  simplicity  when  he  was  a  boy.  He 
said,  that  he  and  his  eldest  brother  once  wrote  a  poem 
together  upon  their  father's  birth-day.  They  were 
so  afraid  that  their  father,  who  was  an  early  riser, 
should  be  up,  and  go  to  his  office,  before  they  could 
recite  the  poem  to  him,  that  they  were  awake  all 
night,  and  kept  stealing  softly  into  his  chamber  to  see 
if  it  were  time  to  wake  him.  Their  mother  had  re- 
peatedly sent  them  back  ;  but  at  last,  just  before  day- 
break, perhaps  desiring  some  sleep  herself,  she  con- 
sented to  his  being  waked.  It  was  still  dark.  The 
young  speaker  had  not  perfectly  committed  the  lines 
to  memory,  and  so  one  of  the  boys  held  the  light 
while  the  other  read  the  address.  Their  father  had 
forgotten  that  it  was  his  birth-day,  and,  when  he  saw 
the  two  boys,  in  their  night  dresses,  standing  by  his 
bedside,  one  holding  a  lantern  while  the  other  read 
verses  to  him,  the  whole  affair  appeared  so  strange, 
and  withal  so  comic,  to  him,  that,  half  laughing  and 
half  scolding,  he  told  them  both  to  go  to  bed  and  go 
to  sleep,  without  appearing  at  all  delighted  with  this 
poetical  effusion  of  their  filial  love.  It  was  not  till 
many  years  after,  that  Charles  could  think  of  this  ad- 
venture without  the  most  serious  feelings  of  disap- 
pointment. One  of  the  pleasures  of  his  boyhood, 
that  he  loved  best  to  remember,  was  the  Christmas- 
tree,  which,  in  his  father's  family,  as  is  almost  the  uni- 
versal custom  in  Germany,  was  prepared  every  Christ- 
mas eve  for  the  children.  He  well  remembered,  he 
has  told  me,  his  joy,  when  he  saw  the  pretty,  well- 


10  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

proportioned  evergreen  tree  carried  into  the  drawing- 
room,  into  which,  after  that  time,  no  child  was  to 
enter  unbidden,  and  the  holy  mystery  with  which  it 
was  invested.  He  loved  to  recollect  with  what  a  be- 
lieving heart  he  listened  to  the  pious  fiction,  that  the 
child  Jesus  would  come,  on  Christmas-eve,  and  hang 
beautiful  presents  and  ornaments  upon  it  for  good 
children.  Memory  brought  back  to  him  the  magic 
sound,  like  distant  music,  of  the  little  bell,  when  his 
father  rang  it  as  a  signal  that  they  might  enter  the 
consecrated  apartment.  Even  then,  when  he  spoke 
of  it,  his  heart  beat  quicker,  as  he  remembered  the 
eagerness  with  which  he  sought  for  his  own  name 
upon  some  of  the  beautiful  things  that  were  suspend- 
ed upon  the  illuminated  branches  of  the  Christmas- 
tree. 

Charles  had  been  baptized  in  the  Lutheran  church, 
and  was  educated  without  any  reference  to  sectarian 
opinions.  He  early  showed  a  deep  interest  in  the 
subject  of  religion,  and  formed  decided  opinions  for 
himself.  His  mother,  in  speaking  of  his  early  re- 
ligious character,  says, 

"  The  opinions  and  principles  of  the  Unitarians 
filled  even  then  his  whole  soul,  and  he  spake  about 
them  (though  not  often)  to  his  father,  who  fully 
agreed  with  him  on  this  subject,  with  such  depth  of 
feeling  and  eloquence,  that  I  seemed  to  see  the  image 
of  our  Saviour,  as  he  taught  in  the  temple  in  his 
twelfth  year.  He  was  a  true  student.  He  was  hard- 
ly a  moment  out  of  our  sight,  and  I  was  enabled  to 
observe  his  whole  conduct  and  pursuits  ;  industry, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.  11 

virtue,  and  good  manners  were  his  most  prominent 
traits  of  character,  and  his  friends,  who  were  numer- 
ous, had  the  same  inclinations  and  the  same  qualities. 
They  would  assemble  daily  in  our  courtyard  to  ex- 
ercise in  gymnastics,  and  then  they  would  go  up  to 
Charles's  large  chamber,  and,  seating  themselves  in  a 
circle,  sing  a  hymn,  often  '  Ein'  feste  Burg,'  and  af- 
terwards regale  themselves  with  a  glass  of  water, 
never  any  thing  else.  We  congratulated  ourselves 
upon  having  such  a  son." 

Charles  was  very  fond  of  going,  in  his  vacations, 
to  Romrod.  His  grandfather,  who  was  rather  an 
austere  man,  and  occasionally  very  violent  in  his 
temper,  was  always  gentle  and  kind  to  him,  and  his 
grandmother  was  very  indulgent,  although  her  little 
favors  to  the  children  were  bestowed  in  secret. 
They  were  sent  to  bed  before  the  ample  supper, 
which  was  prepared  for  their  elders,  appeared  ;  but 
their  grandmother  would  often  steal  up  stairs,  and 
carry  them  some  of  the  good  things  to  eat  in  their 
beds.  Charles's  grandfather  was  superintendent  of 
the  forests  of  the  Duke.  He  lived  in  a  grand  old 
house,  where  the  Duke  was  expected  occasionally 
to  visit  upon  his  hunting  expeditions.  The  boys, 
during  their  visits  in  the  vacations,  slept  in  the  Duke's 
bed  under  a  coronet.  Their  grandfather's  table  was 
always  loaded  with  game,  for  that  was  one  of  the 
privileges  of  his  office.  He  kept  open  house  ;  and 
all  around  him  was  comparatively  magnificent.  But 
these  things,  child  as  he  was,  had  no  great  charms 
for  Charles.  A  little  brook,  that  ran  behind  his 


12  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

grandfather's  garden,  where  he  fished  for  hours,  even 
for  whole  days,  was  dearer  to  him  than  all  other 
things  there. 

It  was  there,  doubtless,  that  many  of  his  young 
thoughts  grew  up  into  their  just  proportions  ;  there, 
also,  sprang  up  many  of  his  noble  and  generous  pur- 
poses, to  be  blighted  in  this  world  for  a  time,  but,  as 
he  ever  hoped,  and  as  we  will  hope,  not  utterly  and 
for  ever.  I  have  often  heard  him -say,  "How  I 
should  love  to  visit,  once  more,  that  little  brook  at 
Romrod,  where  I  have  passed  so  many  happy  hours." 
His  father's  garden  at  Giessen  was  a  source  of  great 
pleasure  to  Charles.  He  loved,  he  said,  to  follow 
his  father  into  his  garden,  and  watch  him  as  he  was 
pruning  his  trees  and  shrubs,  and  talk  with  him,  at 
these  times,  upon  interesting  subjects,  and  observe 
his  father's  pleasure  at  the  fine  fruit  he  raised. 
He  was  fond  of  expatiating  upon  his  father's  tal- 
ent in  conversation,  and  his  faculty  in  story-telling  ; 
but,  more  than  all  things,  he  loved  to  speak  of  his 
rigid  justice,  which  no  flattery  could  move,  no  ad- 
vantage to  himself  could  bribe,  and  no  danger  in- 
timidate ;  of  his  noble  generosity,  his  courage,  and 
his  transparent  purity.  It  was  a  tender,  though  mel- 
ancholy pleasure  to  him  to  speak  of  his  family.  A 
song,  which  his  sister  Louisa  composed  for  her  guitar, 
he  often  sang. 

As  he  grew  older,  a  peculiar  intimacy  was  formed 
between  him  and  his  eldest  brother  Augustus.  They 
were  in  the  habit  of  writing  poetry  together.  There 
was  a  close  union  of  taste  and  feeling  between  them, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.  13 

as  well  as  of  opinion.  He  thought  very  highly  of  his 
brother's  genius  ;  and  there  gradually  grew  up  a 
strict  and  tender  friendship  between  them,  which 
continued  unabated  in  after  life. 

Charles  received  his  elementary  education  at  the 
college  (Pedagogium)  of  G lessen.  Here  he  studied 
the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew,  and  the  French  and 
Italian  languages.  After  having  obtained  many  prizes 
for  literary  labors,  and  passed  the  regular  examina- 
tion, he  received  permission  to  enter  the  university 
of  Giessen.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1813.  He 
was  then  not  seventeen  years  of  age.  He  immedi- 
ately devoted  himself  to  jurisprudence. 

Among  the  teachers  of  the  college,  there  was  none 
who  had  so  much  influence  upon  the  early  develope- 
ment  of  the  faculties  of  Charles  Follen,  as  Gottlieb 
Welcker,  a  friend  of  his  family,  who  was  at  that  time 
professor  in  the  college  and  in  the  university  of  Gies- 
sen, and  afterward  professor  of  ancient  literature  at 
Gottingen,  and  then  at  Bonn.* 

It  was  soon  after  he  entered  the  university,  that 
Germany  declared  war  against  France.  The  spirit 
of  freedom  had  revived  among  the  people,  who  were 
still  under  the  galling  yoke  of  Napoleon.  They  were 
exhausted  by  his  taxes  ;  they  had  been  forced  to 
fight  his  battles,  and  thus  rivet  their  own  chains  ;  and, 
when  they  heard  of  his  defeat  in  Russia,  they  awoke 
from  their  apparent  lethargy,  and  resolved  to  throw 

*  On  coming  to  America,  Dr.  Follen  brought  letters  from  this 
gentleman  to  Professor  Ticknor  and  Professor  Everett. 

VOL.   I.  2 


14  LIFE    OP    CHARLES   POLLEN. 

off  the  degrading  fetters  they  had  worn  so  long. 
From  the  moment  of  their  subjection,  slowly  and  si- 
lently, but  surely,  a  spirit  of  resistance  had  been 
at  work  under  the  apparently  quiet  state  of  things. 
Soon  after  the  disgraceful  peace  of  Tilsit  in  1807,  in 
which  the  king  of  Prussia  was  obliged  to  cede  one 
half  of  his  territory  in  order  to  secure  the  other,  the 
Tugendbund  (Union  of  Virtue)  was  formed  by  some 
patriots,  whose  purpose  it  was  to  promote  the  moral 
regeneration  of  the  people,  and  thus  prepare  them  for 
a  better  state  of  things.  Schools  and  universities, 
physical  and  moral  science,  the  army,  the  govern- 
ment, the  distresses  of  the  people,  all  occupied  the 
attention  of  this  society,  which  suggested  many  plans 
of  reform  that  were  afterwards  adopted.  The  so- 
ciety received  the  patronage  of  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment, till  the  king  was  obliged,  by  Napoleon,  to  abol- 
ish it.  Perhaps  no  individual  did  more  towards  rous- 
ing the  German  youth  to  a  sense  of  their  inalienable 
rights  as  men,  than  Frederick  Lewis  Jahn,  the  author 
of  the  modern  system  of  Gymnastics.  He  opposed, 
in  the  universities,  the  Landsmannschaften,  those  sec- 
tional unions,  which  he  saw  interfered  with  that  en- 
larged love  of  their  whole  country,  which  was  es- 
sential to  a  union  for  the  common  good.  His  object 
was  to  produce  a  manly  character  in  the  German 
youth  by  means  of  a  thorough  physical  education, 
and  thus  prepare  them  for  a  successful  struggle 
against  their  oppressors.  A  countryman  of  Jahn,  in 
a  little  book,  to  which  we  shall  again  refer,  says, 
"  Jahn  inquired  into  the  sources  and  reasons  of 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  15 

the  perverseness  and  unnatural  life  of  the  German 
youth.  He  found  in  the  history  of  the  nation  the 
springs  of  whatever  was  most  noble  and  beautiful  that 
a  nation  can  boast  of,  but  he  also  found,  that  these 
buds  of  promise  had  not  been  unfolded  or  cherished 
in  public  life  ;  its  system  of  laws  had  been  sup- 
planted by  a  foreign  one  ;  its  freedom  had  been  un- 
dermined and  shaken  ;  even  its  language,  morals,  and 
customs  had  received  a  foreign  varnish. 

"  His  attention  was  soon  turned  towards  the  means 
of  removing  the  evils  under  which  his  countrymen 
languished,  and  he  believed  they  were  only  to  be 
found  in  the  education  of  the  youth.  Much  had 
been  done  for  education  within  the  last  fifty  years. 
Pestalozzi's  efforts  and  ideas  necessarily  interested 
him  above  all  others  ;  but  they  could  not  satisfy 
him.  Jahn's  soul  took  up  these  ideas  from  a  higher 
point  ;  the  whole  youth,  the  whole  people,  must 
at  once  be  taken  hold  of  and  brought  to  these  views. 

"  Out  of  this  great  idea  arose  his  '  Teutsches 
Volksthurn,'  ('  German  Nationality,')  a  work  written 
in  language,  which,  in  richness,  power,  and  depth,  can 
be  compared  to  no  other.  In  this,  Jahn  drew,  with  a 
firm  and  masterly  hand,  all  the  features  of  the  purest, 
noblest  humanity,  as  it  had  manifested  itself  in  the 
strong  and  tender  character  of  the  German  people  at 
all  times,  and  pointed  out  the  means  for  the  preserva- 
tion and  further  progress  of  their  character.  Through 
the  whole  work,  there  breathes  a  holy  love  for  the 
people  and  his  father-land,  for  virtue  and  honor,  for 
truth  and  justice. 


16  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Jahn  troubled  himself  but  little  whether  the 
people  understood  this  powerful  call.  Almost  at  the 
same  time  with  the  appearance  of  his  l  Volksthum,' 
he  entered  actively  himself  into  the  education  of 
youth.  Altogether  independent  and  undisturbed,  he 
commenced  his  work  in  sport  ;  he  began  to  practise 
gymnastics  with  a  few  boys  in  Berlin  in  1808.  The 
times,  which  were  agitated  by  great  events,  con- 
spired with  his  efforts  ;  men,  at  whose  heart  lay  the 
good  of  their  country,  helped  him  in  every  way. 
The  German  people  was  to  be  waked  from  its  slum- 
ber ;  it  had  to  learn  to  feel  its  own  power,  that  it 
might  again  be  free." 

Jahn  established  his  first  regular  gymnasium  at 
Berlin  in  1811.  Here  no  French  was  allowed  to  be 
spoken.  National  songs  were  sung,  and  every  effort 
was  made  by  him  to  make  the  gymnasia,  which  he 
superintended,  nurseries  of  patriotism.  They  spread 
rapidly  through  the  whole  country  ;  they  were  patron- 
ized and  encouraged  by  the  governments.  The  royal 
family  often  attended  to  witness  the  exercises,  and 
Jahn  received  a  high  salary  and  every  encouragement 
of  his  labors.  The  result  of  these  efforts  and  the 
actual  state  of  feeling  were  manifested  in  Prussia, 
when  the  king  issued  an  edict,  just  after  the  defeat 
of  Napoleon  in  Russia,  commanding  every  man,  ca- 
pable of  bearing  arms,  to  enlist  as  a  soldier,  and  be 
ready  to  march  when  called  upon  by  his  commander. 
No  explanation  was  given  of  the  purpose  of  this  great 
levy  of  troops  ;  but  every  one,  even  the  children, 
knew  what  was  its  object  ;  it  seemed  only  an  ex- 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  17 

pression  of  the  existing  will  of  the  people.  Besides 
this  patriotic  training  of  the  flower  of  the  German 
youth  in  the  gymnasia,  another  powerful  m^ans  had 
been  adopted  to  prepare  the  whole  people  to  rise 
in  defence  of  their  liberties.  One  of  the  stipula- 
tions of  the  peace  of  Tilsit  restricted  the  standing 
army  of  Prussia  to  forty  thousand  men.  General 
Scharnhorst,  the  founder  of  the  new  military  system 
of  Prussia,  in  order  to  escape  the  effects  of  this 
stipulation,  made  levies  in  succession,  each  being 
dismissed  as  soon  as  trained.  Thus  an  army  of  dis- 
ciplined troops  could  be  collected  at  a  moment's 
warning  ;  so  that,  when  war  was  openly  declared,  the 
nation  was  all  prepared  for  the  contest.  The  students 
in  the  universities  enlisted  in  the  army  as  volunteers, 
the  women  contributed  their  jewels  and  valuable  trin- 
kets, and  even  the  children  put  their  small  but  pre- 
cious stores  into  the  public  treasury.* 

The  signal  defeat  of  Napoleon  at  Leipsic  was 
hailed  with  grateful  enthusiasm  throughout  Germany. 
Charles  and  his  elder  brother  joined  a  volunteer 
corps  of  riflemen.  When  they  told  their  father  that 
they  had  enlisted,  he  replied,  "If  you  had  not  done 
so,  I  should  not  have  acknowledged  you  as  my  sons." 
His  youngest  son,  Paul,  who  was  but  fourteen  years 
old,  wished  to  enlist,  but  his  father  opposed  his  desire 


*  A  true  and  touching  anecdote,  showing  the  extent  and  power 
of  this  patriotic  feeling,  is  the  foundation  of  the  story  of  "The  Ger- 
man Girl,"  which  Dr.  Follen  wrote  for  children,  and  which  was 
printed  in  "  The  Well-Spent  Hour." 

2* 


18  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

on  account  of  his  extreme  youth.  He,  however, 
joined  the  troops  of  the  line  without  the  knowledge  of 
his  fathef,  who,  after  a  time,  became  reconciled  to  it. 

The  corps  of  riflemen,  in  which  the  elder  Follens 
enlisted,  consisted  mostly  of  students.  They  wore 
no  uniform,  but  retained  their  usual  student's  dress. 
They  went  to  battle  for  their  dearest  rights,  freely 
and  from  choice  ;  they  went  as  men,  as  citizens,  not 
as  hired  soldiers  ;  there  was  a  noble,  generous  en- 
thusiam,  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  a  religious  sense  of 
duty,  among  the  volunteers,  which  gave  a  dignity  and 
solemn  grandeur  to  this  national  struggle  for  freedom. 

A  few  weeks  after  he  left  home,  Charles  was 
seized,  at  Darmstadt,  with  a  very  severe  typhus 
fever.  Fortunately  he  had  there  some  kind  relatives, 
who  took  him  to  their  house,  and  rendered  him  every 
possible  care  and  attention.  His  life  was  despaired 
of.  For  a  long  time  he  was  unconscious  of  any  thing 
around  him  ;  but,  by  the  aid  of  an  excellent  phy- 
sician and  his  strong  constitution,  he  at  last  recov- 
ered. It  was  the  prince's  physician,  who  visited  him 
of  his  own  accord,  out  of  respect  to  his  character. 
When  he  came  to  himself,  he  was  in  a  state  of  utter 
imbecility  ;  his  memory  was  gone  ;  he  could  not  read 
his  own  or  any  other  language ;  he  wept  at  the 
slightest  thing  like  a  child.  But  in  about  six  weeks 
afterwards  he  was  able  to  join  his  brother  at  Lyons. 

The  success  of  this  war  of  independence,  as  it  was 
called,  and  the  history  of  the  entire  expulsion  of  the 
French,  and  of  the  other  important  events  of  this 
period,  are  all  well  known.  Charles  Follen  was 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  19 

never  in  any  actual  engagement,  and  nothing  further, 
that  was  remarkable,  occurred  to  him  during  the  cam- 
paign.    One  little  anecdote  I  have  heard  him  relate, 
which    is   somewhat  characteristic.     One   day,   after 
a  march  of  twelve   miles,  he  found  that  he  had   left 
his  watch   at  the   place  where  he  had  slept  the  night 
before.    It  was  a  silver  watch,  and  of  no  great  value  ; 
but  it   had  been   his   father's,  and  he  had  given  it  to 
him.     He   immediately  requested  leave  of  the  com- 
manding officer  to  return   for  it.     Not  being  able  to 
obtain  a  horse,  he  walked  back  to  the  place,  got  his 
watch,  and,  without  stopping,  returned  so  as  to  over- 
take his  comrades  at  their  encampment  for  the  night ; 
thus  walking  twenty-four  miles,   in   addition   to    the 
common  day's  march,  rather  than  risk  the  loss  of  a 
token  of  love  from  his  father.     He  and  his  brothers 
returned  to  Giesseu  at  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  in 
1814.     He  thought  that   he   gained   much  valuable 
knowledge  of  human   nature    during   this    campaign. 
Many  desires  and  purposes,  which  had  sprung  up  in 
his  mind  in  his   early  boyhood,  and  which  had  been 
gaining  strength   and   consistency  till  he   entered   the 
army,  were  now  matured,  and  had  become  fixed  prin- 
ciples of  action  ;  and  he   returned  home  better  pre- 
pared for  the  eventful  life  which  lay  before  him. 

It  may  well  be  supposed,  that  the  anxious  hearts 
of  their  tender  parents  were  greatly  rejoiced  at  seeing 
all  their  sons  return  safe,  and  in  good  health,  from 
the  perils  of  war.  Paul  had  won  military  honors. 
At  one  time,  when  a  fortification  was  to  be  stormed, 
the  enterprise  was  thought  so  dangerous,  that  the 


20  LIFE   OF  CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

commander  called  for  volunteers  to  undertake  it. 
Paul  was  the  first  to  step  forth  and  offer  to  lead  the 
attack  ;  others  joined  him.  He  was  the  first  to  enter 
the  redoubt.  The  post  was  taken  ;  and  Paul,  in 
presence  of  the  whole  army,  received  the  reward  of 
his  bravery  from  the  commanding  officer. 

Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  generous 
enthusiasm  and  self-devotion  of  the  German  youth  in 
the  cause  of  their  country  at  this  time.  The  touching 
and  inspiring  story  of  the  life  and  death  of  Theodore 
Korner,  who  fell  in  a  skirmish  near  Rosenberg,  might 
serve  as  the  embodied  representation  of  the  spirit 
which  animated  the  whole  German  youth,  who  freely 
and  cheerfully  had  hastened  to  lay  the  budding  hon- 
ors of  early  genius,  the  dearest  hopes  of  prosperous 
love,  and  all  their  mysterious  longings  and  boundless 
anticipations  of  earthly  joy,  upon  the  altar  of  their 
country's  weal.  They  had  all,  like  him,  stood  ready 
to  be  sacrificed  in  her  cause.  Some  beautiful  lines 
on  the  death  of  Korner,  adapted  to  the  Stabat  mater, 
a  sublime  old  Catholic  tune,  were  written  at  this  time 
by  Charles  Follen.  This  poem,  and  some  others 
that  he  wrote  at  this  most  exciting  period  of  his  life, 
are  appended  to  the  present  volume. 

The  students,  who  had  been  volunteers  in  the 
army,  returned  to  their  various  universities  with  a 
new  ardor  for  their  studies.  Augustus  Follen  re* 
mained  for  a  time  at  home,  but  subsequently  went  to 
Heidelberg.  Charles  returned  to  the  study  of  juris- 
prudence at  the  university  of  G lessen. 


CHAPTER    II. 


Efforts  to  establish  a  Burschenschaft.  —  Condition  of  the  Univer- 
sities. —  Opposition  of  the  Landsmannschaften. 

FROM  this  period  we  may  date  the  history  of 
his  public  life.  Now  it  was  that  he  commenced 
that  systematic  pursuit  of  a  great  purpose,  which 
had  for  its  ultimate  object  the  political,  moral,  and 
religious  reform  of  the  German  people.  From  his 
earliest  youth,  when  but  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of 
age,  he  had  dwelt  upon  the  idea  of  a  state  of  so- 
ciety, in  which  every  man,  through  his  own  free  ef- 
fort, should  make  himself  a  true  image  of  Jesus  ;  and 
had  thought  that  thus  the  foundation  would  be  laid  for  a 
reformation  which  should  have  no  limit.  All  tyranny 
he  considered  sin.  Every  one,  he  thought,  was  bound 
to  resist  it,  but  first  within  his  own  breast  ;  for  it  was 
his  creed,  that  no  man  is  a  free  man  who  is  the  slave 
of  any  passion  ;  no  man  is  free  who  fears  death  ;  none 
but  the  believer  in  immortality  can  be  truly  free. 
He  believed,  that  every  one  could  resemble  Jesus  in 
every  thing  but  his  miraculous  powers,  and  that  noth- 
ing short  of  Christ-like  perfection  should  satisfy  us. 
After  having  subdued  the  enemy  within,  he  thought 
every  one  bound  to  resist,  as  far  as  he  was  able,  all 


22  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 


unjust  dominion  wherever  he  encountered  it,  begin- 
ning in  the  circle  in  which  he  happened  to  be  placed, 
and  extending  his  efforts  as  his  powers  and  opportu- 
nities enlarged.  He  believed,  that  much  might  be 
done  for  Germany  by  a  reformation,  founded  on  these 
principles,  and  commenced  in  the  universities  by  its 
hopeful  youth.  He  thought  every  man,  who  should 
act  from  these  convictions,  would  find  himself  pos- 
sessed of  an  incalculable  power,  and  might  of  himself 
produce  an  immeasurable  effect.  He  early  began  his 
practical  illustration  of  his  theory  by  a  life  of  purity 
and  devotion  to  duty.  He  became  a  freeman  ac- 
cording to  his  own  idea  of  a  freeman,  and  thus  con- 
secrated himself  to  the  work  of  a  reformer  by  a  per- 
fect subjection  of  himself  to  the  law  of  justice  and 
universal  brotherhood,  as  taught  by  Jesus. 

Such  were  the  principles  and  purposes  that  filled 
the  soul  of  Charles  Follen  when  he  returned  to  the 
university.  But,  before  proceeding  in  the  narration 
of  his  success  and  failures,  a  few  words  upon  the 
subject  of  the  German  universities  may  not  be  amiss  ; 
and  to  some  of  my  readers  an  explanation  of  some 
of  the  terms,  used  in  speaking  of  German  students, 
will  not  be  unacceptable.* 

In  the  early  history  of  the  German  universities, 
the  buildings,  in  which  the  students,  especially  the 
poorer  ones,  lived  together,  paying  only  a  small  rent 
for  their  lodgings,  were  called  bursoe.  The  term 

r  *  This  account  is  mostly  taken  from  the  "  Conversations-Lex- 
icon." 


LIFE^DF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  23 

bursce  was  also  applied  to  certain  boarding-houses 
established  by  the  professors.  Those,  who  lived  in 
such  bursce,  were  called  bursarii  ;  hence  the  German 
word  bursche  for  a  student.  The  first  teachers  in 
the  ancient  universities  were  not  paid  by  the  govern- 
ment ;  but  were  supported  entirely  by  fees  received 
from  the  students.  A  teacher  of  high  reputation 
could  then  acquire  wealth,  as  the  number  of  students 
was  large. 

The  bursce  degenerated  after  a  time.  Some  of 
them  were  not  charitable  institutions,  and  the  students 
had  to  pay  a  fee  to  the  person,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
superintend  their  conduct.  These  superintendents 
often  allowed  their  wards  to  indulge  in  all  kinds  of 
vices,  in  order  to  obtain  many  students.  When  the 
Reformation  broke  out,  its  regenerating  power  was 
felt  in  the  literary  institutions.  The  students  saw 
the  corruption  of  the  bursce,  and  elected  their  own 
superintendents,  to  each  of  whom  was  committed  the 
charge  of  the  students  coming  from  a  particular  dis- 
trict or  part  of  Germany.  Thus  the  Landsmann- 
schaften  (countrymanships)  originated.  These,  also, 
degenerated.  All  the  students  divided  themselves 
into  schorists  (preceptors)  and  pennale  (pen-cases). 
The  latter  were  abused  by  the  former,  and,  when 
they  succeeded  to  their  places,  abused  those  who 
came  after  them.  This  lasted  over  a  hundred  years. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  originated 
the  orders.  The  chief  of  the  orders  were  called 
seniors.  They  formed  certain  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  all  the  students,  which  were  called  com- 


24  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FCJLLEN. 

ments.  These,  in  their  turn,  degefierated.  New 
Landsmannschaften  were  created  to  oppose  them. 
They  were  guided  by  very  false  notions  of  honor  ; 
arbitrary  laws  were  enforced  ;  duels  took  the  place 
of  arguments  ;  the  few  tyrannized  over  the  many. 
These  abuses  continued  unquestioned  till  about  the 
time  of  the  war  of  independence,  when  the  general 
conviction,  that  Germany  ought  to  be  united  against 
the  common  enemy,  inspired  all  classes  with  a  feel- 
ing of  patriotism,  and  a  desire  to  throw  off  all  narrow 
sectional  feelings,  and  to  unite  for  the  general  wel- 
fare. Many  of  those,  who  had  fought  and  bled  for 
their  common  country,  when  they  returned,  after  the 
war,  to  their  respective  universities,  felt,  more  than 
ever,  the  petty  and  selfish  character  of  the  Lands- 
mannschaften, and  there  was  a  general  movement  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  true  Burschenschaft,  or 
union  of  all  the  students,  irrespective  of  the  particu- 
lar German  territory  from  whence  they  came. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  when  Charles  Follen 
returned  to  Giessen,  with  the  determination  to  conse- 
crate himself  anew  to  the  holy  work  to  which  he  had 
so  early  dedicated  himself.  He  was,  as  has  been 
stated,  faithful  to  his  purpose  of  commencing  his  life 
of  reform  with  himself.  He  was  exemplary  in  his 
devotion  to  study  ;  he  was  pure  and  upright  in  all 
his  actions  ;  so  "careful  of  the  rights  of  others,  and  so 
free  from  all  blemish  himself,  that  even  the  malicious 
and  the  envious  could  not  find  aught  against  him. 
He  exercised  a  power  that  was  felt  by  all.  He  had 
perfected  himself  in  all  manly  exercises.  He  was 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  25 

a  skilful  gymnast  ;  he  was  master  of  the  broadsword, 
and  a  powerful  swimmer. 

Charles  immediately  took  a  zealous  and  active  part 
in  aid  of  those  who  wished  to  form  a  union  of  all  the 
students,  a  true  Burschenschaft,  and  who  wished  to 
put  down  the  Landsmannschaften,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  mere  sectional  unions,  and  whose  influ- 
ence was  so  hurtful  in  the  university.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  arbitrary  character  of  the  laws  of  this 
self-constituted  government.  A  poor  student,  who 
should  dare  to  resist,  was  insulted  and  proscribed, 
not  only  in  his  own  university,  but  throughout  Ger- 
many ;  for  the  decision  of  one  university  against  him 
was  binding  upon  all  others.  Duels  were  their  only 
arguments,  and  might  the  only  acknowledged  right. 
The  injurious  influence  of  such  a  state  of  things 
could  hardly  be  calculated. 

The  leaders  of  the  Landsmannschaften,  who  saw 
their  power  in  danger,  made  a  violent  resistance  to 
the  efforts  of  those  who  desired  to  establish  a  better 
state  of  things,  and  all  thejr  leaders  became  peculiarly 
obnoxious  to  them.  Charles  Follen  had  many  ene- 
mies. His  mother,  in  giving  me  her  recollectiofas 
of  this  period,  says,  "  In  consequence  of  his  exer- 
tions to  introduce  discipline,  good  morals,  and  indfs- 
try  among  the  students,  which  were  obnoxious  'to 
the  greater  number,  he  drew  upon  himself  the  hatred 
of  the  bad  and  the  ill-disposed,  as  is  always  the 
case." 

It  was  seldom  that  he  was  willing  to  speak  of 
his  early  life,  so  many  painful  thoughts  did  it  recall  ; 

VOL.  i.  3 


26  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FCvLLElf. 

but  occasionally  he  would  relate  his  contests  with 
some  of  the  petty  tyrants  of  his  university,  who  were 
in  almost  deadly  opposition  to  him.  They  were  in 
the  hahit  of  domineering,  in  a  very  tyrannical  man- 
ner, over  those  whom  some  unfortunate  circumstance 
had  placed  in  their  power.  Charles  Follen  ever 
took  the  part  of  the  weak  and  the  oppressed,  and, 
of  course,  he  was  hated  by  their  oppressors.  He 
was  often  challenged,  and  called  upon  to  use  his 
sword  against  these  bullies  ;  but  he  has  told  me, 
that  he  never  used  it  in  a  purely  personal  quarrel. 
He  was  skilful  in  the  management  of  the  weapon,  and 
was  so  calm  and  collected,  that  he  almost  always 
gained  the  victory,  and  never  abused  it.  These 
duels  with  the  broadsword  seldom  endangered  life, 
and  at  that  time  he  thought  himself  justifiable  in  oc- 
casionally using  this  means  for  the  defence  of  truth 
and  justice.  It  was  one  of  his  great  purposes,  too, 
and  of  the  party  of  which  he  was  a  leader,  to  put  a 
check  to  this  evil  and  dangerous  custom  ;  but  he 
thought,  that,  had  he  not,  shown  the  courage  and 
power  to  defend  himself  by  force  of  arms,  he  should 
not  have  had  the  same  influence  with  his  fellow-stu- 
dents in  urging  other  and  more  moral  means  for  the 
settlement  of  differences  ;  he  could  not  even  have 
remained  in  the  university. 

He  took  a  most  active  part  with  other  members  of 
the  Burschenshaft  in  the  formation  and  establishment 
of  a  court  of  honor  among  themselves,  that  should  be 
empowered  to  settle  all  differences  among  them  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  morality  and  justice.  This  was 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  27 

called  the  Ehrenspiegel,  or  Mirror  of  Honor.  Their 
decisions  were  to  be  binding  upon  the  students  ;  and 
thus  they  hoped  to  check,  not  only  this  bad  practice 
of  duelling,  but  many  other  evils  from  which  they  suf- 
fered. The  great  idea  of  a  Christian  brotherhood,  to 
be  first  formed  in  the  universities,  and  afterwards  to 
be  spread  over  all  Germany,  fired  the  hopeful  and 
aspiring  soul  of  Charles  Follen.  He  met  with  violent 
opposition.  He,  and  those  who  were  of  his  opinion, 
and  cherished  the  same  purposes,  were  nicknamed 
and  insulted  by  the  Landsmannschaften.  They  were 
called  Old  Schwartzen,  (Old  Blacks,)  from  the  color  of 
their  academic  coats.  Great  stories  were  told  of  their 
revolutionary  purposes,  and  at  last  they  were  accused, 
to  the  rector,  of  treasonable  acts.  But  it  was  not  in 
the  universities  alone,  that  this  spirit  of  freedom  was 
watched  with  a  jealous  eye.  The  governors  of  the 
land,  as  well  as  the  petty  tyrants  in  the  universities, 
were  alarmed  when  they  saw  that  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom, which  had  led  to  the  war  of  independence,  and 
enabled  them  to  throw  off  a  foreign  yoke,  was  not 
like  a  powerful  but  docile  mastiff,  that  lies  quietly 
down  to  sleep  again  when  he  has  done  his  master's 
bidding  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  dared  to  think,  and  feel, 
and  act,  for  some  higher  and  more  enduring  purpose. 
While  the  princes  wanted  strong  and  active  and  de- 
voted soldiers,  they  encouraged  all  the  movements 
for  freedom  ;  they  patronized  the  gymnasia  j  but, 
when  they  found,  that  in  these  schools  the  principles 
of  universal  freedom  were  taught,  they  looked  upon 
them  with  suspicion.  "  Jahn  had  re-opened  his  gyn> 


28  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

nasia.  They  found,  that  he  was  breathing  his  free 
spirit  into  all  whom  he  taught,  that  the  thought  which 
occupied  his  life  was  passing  into  the  lives  of  the 
youth  he  collected  around  him,  and  even  more  by 
example  than  by  precept.  They  feared  the  influence 
of  the  motto  he  adopted  for  himself  and  his  pupils  : 
'  Frisch,  frei,  frohlich,  und  fromrn  '  ;  '  Strong,  free, 
joyful,  and  pious' ;  through  the  realization  of  which  he 
strove  to  gain  an  independence  that  should  be  worthy 
of  admiration." 

Soon  all  his  schools  were  closed  by  order  of  gov- 
ernment, and  he  was  imprisoned.  They  had  made 
promises  to  the  people  of  a  free  representative  form 
of  government  in  their  hour  of  danger,  but,  now  that 
the  peril  had  passed,  they  found  it  expedient  to  forget 
their  promises,  all  save  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar  ; 
he  had  redeemed  his  princely  word.  So  in  the  uni- 
versity, when  it  was  essential  to  the  salvation  of  the 
country,  that  a  true  and  enlarged  patriotism  should 
unite  them,  as  one  man,  for  their  common  country, 
they  favored  the  idea  of  a  true  Burschenschaft  that 
should  bind  them  all  together  like  a  band  of  brothers  ; 
but,  now  that  there  was  no  outward  enemy  to  fear, 
they  were  displeased  with  all  those  in  the  university 
who  recognised  the  great  truth  of  the  inalienable 
rights  of  every  human  being.  They  trembled  at  the 
thought,  that  the  law  of  justice  and  equity,  and  the 
rights  of  man,  should  prevail  through  the  land,  and 
dreaded  and  hated  him  who  taught  such  dangerous 
and  incendiary  doctrines. 

The  friends  of  freedom  and  justice  in  the  universi- 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  29 

ty  of  Giessen  could  not,  under  these  circumstances, 
be  astonished,  when  they  heard  that  they  had  been 
accused,  to  the  government,  of  revolutionary  de- 
signs. The  rector  was,  in  consequence,  called  upon 
by  his  office  to  make  an  investigation  into  the  charges 
against  some  of  the  students,  particularly  the  ad- 
herents of  the  Ehrenspiegel.  As  soon  as  the  ac- 
cused ascertained  that  this  was  the  case,  they  made 
a  statement  of  facts,  put  all  the  records  of  their 
meetings  fnto  the  hands  of  the  rector,  and  chal- 
lenged an  investigation  of  all  their  purposes  and  ac- 
tions. The  trial  and  examination  proved  them  inno- 
cent of  any  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  land  or  of  the 
university. 

Some  months  afterwards,  Charles  Follen  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet,  called  "  Geschichte  der  Christlich- 
teutschen  Burschenschaft  zu  Giessen,"  (History  of 
the  Christian  German  Burschenschaft  at  Giessen,) 
giving  an  account,  from  the  records,  of  all  that  had 
passed  upon  the  subject.  I  am  aware,  that  many  may 
say,  what  is  very  true,  that  this  is  but  one  side  of  the 
story,  and  that  honest  men  took  a  different  view  of  the 
questions  at  issue  among  the  students  at  Giessen  ;  but 
all  will  be  sure,  that  this  is  a  strictly  fair  account  of 
facts,  as  they  appeared  to  him,  or  it  would  not  have 
been  given  to  the  public  by  Charles  Follen.  Neither 
is  this  to  be  taken  as  an  exact  representation  of  the 
state  of  things  in  all  the  universities  in  Germany.  It 
is  to  be  valued  simply  as  a  history  of  an  important 
part  of  his  life.  To  some  readers  it  may  be  thought 
dry  and  uninteresting  ;  such  may  easily  pass  it  over. 
3* 


30          LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

I  give  the  whole  of  the  Preface,  which  was  written  by 
the  editor,  and  such  extracts  as  seem  necessary  to 
make  the  whole  case  clear,  as  it  is  there  represented. 

"  Preface. 

"  The  history,  which  is  here  related,  is  taken  with 
exact  truth,  partly  from  the  journals  of  many  stu- 
dents who  were  pursuing  their  studies  during  these 
events  at  Giessen,  and  partly  faithfully  collected  from 
other  sources. 

"  In  the  midst  of  a  time,  when  local  divisions  and 
an  oppressive  system  of  rank  were  wasting,  by  angry 
collisions,  the  free  power  of  individuals  and  of  the 
whole  community,  like  an  acrid  poison  corroding 
the  sound  body  of  the  Burschenschaft,  there  arose, 
among  the  students  of  Giessen,  the  idea  of  a  Chris- 
tian German  Republic,  where  the  officers  should  be 
completely  on  a  level  with  all  the  others,  and  where 
the  will  of  the  whole,  obtained  by  a  free  general  dis- 
cussion in  assemblies  open  to  all,  should  rule  in  the 
concerns  of  the  students,  and  where,  in  the  close 
union  of  all  their  youthful  powers,  in  their  manners  and 
conduct,  and  in  public  sentiment,  an  earnest,  patriotic 
effort,  a  striving  after  learning  and  physical  culture, 
and  for  freedom  as  citizens,  should  be  unfolded. 

"  On  the  battle-field  of  Leipsic,  where  the  cross 
sword  of  liberty  did  holy  justice  on  violence  and 
wrong,  and  where,  henceforward,  a  great  iron  cross 
adorns  the  hero-breast  of  the  great  Father-land,  there 
awoke  a  spirit,  which,  in  the  great  whole,  as  in  each 
separate  university  of  our  country,  strives  and  will 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  31 

strive,  till  all  be  accomplished,  till,  in  the  people,  the 
ideal  of  humanity  is  glorified. 

"  Take  these  pages,  be  earnest,  and  be  thoughtful  of 
what  has  happened,  and  of  what  must  happen.  Pray, 
think,  and  act  for  your  Father-land." 

The  pamphlet  begins  with  a  short  sketch  of  the 
early  history  of  the  universities,  and  of  the  origin  of 
the  prevailing  abuses,  and  goes  on  to  say  ; 

"  This  was  the  state  of  the  German  students, 
when  the  Christian  German  effort  for  liberty,  the 
national  spirit,  arose  out  of  the  storms  of  the  late 
period,  when  the  German  youth,  full  of  sacred  enthu- 
siasm, brought  their  first  offerings  to  their  country. 
This  new  and  true  spirit  of  a  student's  life  was  mani- 
fested in  many  universities,  and,  after  sweeping  away 
the  old,  smouldering  ashes,  was  springing  up  in  a 
purer  flame. 

"  This  same  spirit  was  also  in  action  in  the  uni- 
versity of  Giessen,  just  after  the  Hessian  volunteers 
had  returned  from  their  first  campaign  against  the 
French.  But  unlooked  for  difficulties,  from  within 
and  from  without,  soon  arose.  The  old,  exclusive 
spirit,  political  distinctions,  rank  given  to  age,  and 
the  Comment,  selfish  and  low  attempts  of  all  sorts, 
pressed  in  again,  and  all  union  among  the  students 
was  destroyed  by  hostile  separations  and  the  revi- 
val of  old  enmities. 

"  Many  students,  however,  who  were  spiritually 
united  by  the  same  striving  after  Christian  and  nation- 
al progress,  went  steadily  on  to  the  attainment  of  this 


32          LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

object  in  friendly  union.  An  examination,  which 
was  afterwards  made  into  this  union,  especially  in  re- 
lation to  its  political  objects,  manifested  that  in  this 
society  there  was  nothing  of  show-work,  or  of  formal 
life,  but  a  true,  inward,  indissoluble  bond,  founded 
on  conviction. 

"  Provincial  and  other  distinctions  no  longer  ex- 
isted openly  in  the  university.  The  ill  treatment  of 
one  of  the  students  by  others  caused  several  meet- 
ings of  the  students,  in  which  the  general  indignation 
at  such  conduct  was  publicly  expressed.  In  one  of 
these  meetings  the  authority  of  the  Comment  was  ex- 
pressly rejected,  and,  finally,  some  penalties  were 
decreed  by  the  assembly  without  reference  to  the 
Comment.  Thus  the  whole  body  of  the  students  had 
declared  their  determination  to  act  freely  as  a  body, 
and  this  was  confirmed  by  the  universal  shout  of  the 
assembly,  with  which  the  meeting  closed,  '  Long 
live  the  free  German  Burschenstaat.' 

"  The  motion  for  this  union  of  the  students  was 
made  towards  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1816,  at  a 
general  meeting  of  the  students,  and  was  generally  ap- 
proved. '  The  Landsmannschaft  and  all  other  asso- 
ciations leading  to  exclusiveness,  as  well  as  every  dis- 
tinction resting  upon  age  as  a  student,  birth,  power,  or 
customs  injurious  to  the  universal  equality,  shall  be  for 
ever  banished,  and,  for  the  purpose  of  an  unrestrained, 
progressive,  and  sure  developement  of  the  student's 
life,  a  free  German  Burschenstaat  shall  be  established 
in  each  separate  university,  as  well  as  throughout  all 
Germany.'  ' 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  33 

It  seems,  from  the  pamphlet,  that  this  was  accept- 
ed, unanimously  and  unconditionally,  by  all  the  stu- 
dents ;  and  that  all  present,  as  an  expression  of  their 
approval,  joined  in  the  cry,  "  Long  live,  in  the  uni- 
versity, liberty,  equality,  and  union  !  "  When,  how- 
ever, they  began  to  form  courts  for  the  decision  of 
affairs  of  honor,  the  rector,  Professor  Arens,  who 
saw  in  this  a  movement  for  freedom  which  would  be 
dangerous  to  the  established  state  of  things,  put  a 
stop  to  the  proceedings. 

The  rector's  prohibition  was  directed,  in  express 
words,  only  against  the  so-called  Court  of  Inquisition 
and  Demagogical  Association,  and  even  for  this  he  had 
not  the  authority  of  the  academic  court.  The  de- 
cisions touching  the  abolition  of  political  privileges, 
of  rank  arising  from  difference  of  age,  and  of  the 
Comment,  and  also  concerning  the  union  of  all  the 
universities,  were  approved  by  the  rector. 

The  situation  of  things  remained  unsettled  and 
unsatisfactory  among  the  students,  many  of  them  be- 
ing unfaithful  to  their  accepted  resolution.  Instead 
of  union,  party  spirit  sprung  up,  and  the  old  difficul- 
ties still  existed.  There  arose  also  innumerable  du- 
els, often  carried  on  maliciously,  and  without  any  rea- 
sonable ground,  as  well  as  various  other  arbitrary  and 
underhand  acts. 

This  continued  till  the  middle  of  the  winter  term, 
when  Professor  Balser  was  chosen  rector.  At  last, 
on  Christmas  of  the  same  year,  1816,  to  make  an  end 
of  this  ruinous  state  of  things,  a  few  students  pro- 
posed, in  open  assembly,  to  bring  forward,  at  the 


34  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN, 

end  of  the  week,  with  the  consent  of  the  rector,  a 
plan  for  a  new  court  of  honor  for  the  whole  universi- 
ty. At  the  same  time,  those  who  had  this  work  at 
heart,  were  requested  to  collect  the  opinions  of  oth- 
ers, in  order  to  have  a  general  consultation  and  under- 
standing on  the  subject,  so  that,  from  the  whole, 
something  might  be  produced  in  perfect  accordance 
with  the  general  will. 

The  same  young  men,  who  proposed  this,  assem- 
bled in  small  parties  in  each  others'  rooms,  con- 
versed with,  and  opened  their  minds  to  each  other,  and 
put  the  result  of  their  conferences  on  paper,  and  then 
collected  their  different  projects,  and  arranged  them 
all  in  one,  which  they  brought  before  the  assembly 
of  the  students,  at  the  time  previously  agreed  upon, 
under  the  title  of  Ehrenspiegel^  or  Mirror  of  Honor. 

At  the  meeting,  a  student  rose  and  asked,  "  Who 
intends  to  speak  at  this  time  ?  "  Another,*  who  was 
prepared  to  bring  forward  the  project,  replied,  that 
he  would  lay  before  them  the  plan  which  had  been 
before  announced.  The  other  asked,  whether  he 
spoke  as  an  individual,  or  in  the  name  of  several,  and 
whether,  in  the  latter  case,  he  spoke  in  the  name  of 
an  association  or  not.  He  answered,  "  In  the  name 
of  many,  but  of  no  association."  Thereupon  the 
first  one  declared,  "  There  are  here  two  constituted 
associations,  Hassia  and  Constantia,  and  only  these 
have  a  right  to  speak  in  this  place."  To  this  the 
other  answered,  "  Let  union  in  the  universities  be 

*  This  was  Charles  Follen. 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          35 

the  object  and  the  law,  nothing  of  Landsmannschaften. 
We  wish  at  least  to  make  a  trial,  whether,  in  the 
plan  we  have  formed,  something  better  may  not  be 
offered  than  the  Comment  and  exclusive  associa- 
tions." But  these  associations,  with  their  adherents, 
left  the  meeting  without  listening  to  any  thing. 

To  those  who  had  not  left  the  assembly  the 
Ehrenspiegel  was  now  read,  and  afterwards  agaiiu 
at  various  times,  when  alterations  were  made.  At 
last  it  was  adopted  by  about  sixty  students,  who  each 
acknowledged,  by  signing  his  name,  his  determina- 
tion to  adhere  to  its  requisitions.  These  formed 
themselves  into  a  Burschenschaft,  and  then  invited 
all  others,  without  reference  to  other  associations,  to 
join  them  in  all  their  public  meetings.  The  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  records  show  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  the  Ehrenspiegel. 

u  The  relations  of  individual  students  to  each 
other  must  be  a  relation  of  unconditional  equality, 
without  reference  to  any  particular  faith,  country,  or 
rank  arising  from  age  or  family  connexions.  Hon- 
or ennobles  at  the  university  ;  but  honor  will  be 
rendered  to  every  one  who  is  animated  by  a  pure 
zeal  for  a  learned  and  worthy  education,  by  a  holy 
devotion  to  the  faith  and  the  country  to  which  he, 
with  free  conviction,  adheres. 

"  No  single  department  of  art  or  science  suffices 
us,  and  as  little  can  a  single  mode  of  bodily  exercise. 
Only  a  constant  progress  towards  knowledge  and 
truth,  enlarged  by  friendly  communion,  united  to 
a  social,  gymnastic  developement  of  all  the  bodily 


36  LfFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

powers,  can  lead  to  a  free  harmony  of  one  being,  in 
parts  as  in  the  whole. 

"  Let  the  model  of  a  Christian  German  Burschen- 
schaft  be  our  perpetual  ideal  !  Let  this  elevated 
spirit  of  union  fraternize  the  whole  Burschenschaft 
into  one  republic  and  covenant  of  honor,  which  may 
form  itself  independently  in  each  university,  but  yet 
each  one  as  an  image  or  part  of  the  whole  ;  strong 
in  united  action,  ruled  by  a  noble  morality,  springing 
from  free  conviction,  and  enlightened  by  public  sen- 
timent, which  constitutes  the  conscience  of  this,  as 
of  every  other  republic." 

The  power  of  speaking  in  public,  which  soon  be- 
came common  in  the  assemblies,  the  love  of  freedom, 
and  of  its  defenders  towards  each  other,  increased 
daily.  False  shame  and  presumption  vanished  before 
the  growing  spirit  of  union.  The  whole  undertaking 
was  in  no  way  opposed  to  the  laws  of  the  university, 
with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Ehrenspiegel  in  regard  to  duels'.  Yet  these  very 
decisions  succeeded  in  gaining  what  had  never  been 
obtained  by  the  severe  punishments  of  the  courts,  for 
they  destroyed,  in  the  beginning,  almost  all  the  pro- 
jected duels. 

Information  of  these  proceedings  was  not  formally 
laid  before  the  government  of  the  university,  although 
they  were  entirely  public.  The  object  was  first  to 
unite  all  the  students,  and  especially  to  turn  from 
their  errors  those  who  continued  to  strive  for  power, 
as  the  appointed  lords  and  rulers  in  the  universities. 
Among  other  proceedings  was  the  following  declara- 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          37 

tion  of  the  Christian  German  Burschenschaft  to  all 
the  other  students. 

The  first  declaration  of  the  Burschenschaft  had  in 
view  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  justice  and 
honor  among  all  the  students,  including  those  who  had 
not  taken  part  in  the  cause  of  the  Ehrenspiegel. 
This  declaration  was  intended  particularly  for  their 
real  opponents,  the  Landsmannschaften  ;  and  con- 
tained, besides,  an  invitation  to  the  public  meetings, 
where  every  one  had  an  equal  right  to  speak ;  that  so  a 
general  accommodation  might  be  brought  about,  as  soon 
as  possible,  by  an  exchange  of  opposing  opinions. 
This  accommodation  was  as  follows  : 

"  There  can  be  no  relation  of  honor  without  a  re- 
lation of  justice  ;  consequently,  every  duel  is  mis- 
chievous or  sinful,  if  it  is  ascertained  that  there  is 
right  on  one  side  and  injustice  on  the  other,  or  a 
misunderstanding  on  both.  But  the  ascertaining  of 
the  right  requires  a  court,  and  among  students  it  must 
necessarily  be  a  court  of  arbitration.  On  this  truth 
the  general  meeting  ground  their  proposals  to  all  who 
act  by  another  law  of  honor. 

"  1st.  Whether  they  wish  to  put  an  end  to  all  duels, 
which  have  their  origin  in  trifles  or  in  injustice. 

"  2d.  Whether  they  are  willing,  for  this  purpose, 
that,  in  all  future  affairs  of  honor,  an  equal  number  of 
students  should  be  chosen  from  each  party  as  arbi- 
trators, with  a  leader  chosen  by  each  party,  who, 

"3d.  Should  make  his  decision,  not  according  to 
any  existing  law  of  honor,  but  according  to  his  best 
knowledge  and  conscience  ;  and,  where  the  right  is 

VOL.  i.  4 


38  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

not  apparent,  should  seek  to  bring  about  a  reconcilia- 
tion ;  and,  if  this  also  be  vain,  should  oblige  each 
party  to  give  his  word  of  honor,  that  he  is  right  ac- 
cording to  his  own  conviction,  whereupon  a  knightly 
combat  may  prove,  in  each,  his  belief  of  the  truth  of 
what  he  has  sworn  to." 

A  union  on  these  points  was  the  more  necessary, 
since,  owing  to  the  wide  separations  between  the  stu- 
dents, every  private  difference,  unless  it  was  imme- 
diately settled,  gave  food  for  party  hate  among  the 
whole. 

Upon  this,  there  appeared,  on  the  part  of  the  op- 
ponents, the  following  answer  to  the  Renon^en  ;  (for 
so,  in  the  usual  language  of  the  Landsmannschaften, 
those  students  were  called,  who  were  not  members  of 
any  of  the  associations  founded  upon  the  Comment.) 

"  The  constitution  of  the  Representatives  of  Hassia 
and  Constantia  give  the  following  answer  to  the  pro- 
posals made  by  the  students  A.  B.  and  N.  N. 

"  1st.  That  the  abovementioned  associations  are 
willing  to  grant  to  the  Renonc.en  a  share  in  the  re- 
form of  the  Comment,  although  the  associations  alone 
have  the  right  of  directing  the  affairs  of  the  students. 
To  this  end,  they  may  choose  from  students  some 
who,  on  this  occasion,  may  aid  the  association  in  the 
amendment  of  the  Comment. 

"  2d.  Those  who  have  subscribed  to  the  Ehren- 
spiegel  can  recognise  it  as  a  constitution,  merely  so 
far  as  it  does  not  conflict  with  the  Comment ;  and,  in 
cases  of  collision  with  other  students,  they  must  re- 
cognise the  Convention  of  the  Representatives  as  the 
highest  court. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  39 

"On  these  points  the  Convention  will  wait,  at  fur- 
thest till  Saturday  morning,  for  a  precise  answer. 

"  Giessen,  9th  January,  1817. 

"  In  the  name  of  the  In  the  name  of  the 

Hassia,  Constantia, 

Signed.  Signed." 

It  is  left  to  the  reader  to  judge  of  this  declaration. 

There  now  appeared,  as  the  decree  of  the  public 
meeting  of  the  students,  the  following  declaration  to 
all  students. 

"Giessen,  January  llth,  1817. 

"  The  assembled  students,  who  have  united  to  form 
a  free  Christian  German  community,  declare,  in  con- 
formity with  their  instructions,  as  follows  : 

"  Towards  the  end  of  the  last  summer,  at  a  time 
when  no  associations  openly  existed  in  the  univer- 
sities ;  when  only  the  assembled  students,  as  a  body, 
passed  judgment  in  affairs  relative  to  themselves,  the 
following  articles  were  drawn  up,  by  a  member  of 
their  body,  were  proposed  for  examination  to  the  as- 
sembled students,  and  were  generally  approved. 

"  All  students,  from  the  instant  they  enter  the  uni- 
versity, are  free  and  equal  among  themselves  ;  and 
have,  so  long  as  their  honor  is  sustained,  an  equal  right 
to  all  the  privileges  of  freedom  and  honor  that  belong 
to  a  student's  life  ;  so  that  neither  a  difference  of  faith, 
of  country,  of  rank,  nor  of  the  time  of  having  been  a 
student,  shall  be  the  ground  of  any  difference. 

"  Therefore,  all  the  old  differences  between  Bur- 
gchen,  such  as  Brandern  and  Fiichsen,  as  they  op* 


40  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

pose  this  universal  freedom  and  equality,  with  all  the 
arrangements  and  relations  depending  on  them,  even 
the  differences  of  name,  must  be  utterly  abolished,  so 
that  all  students  shall  be  comprehended  under  the 
general  name  of  Burschen. 

"  The  assembly  of  all  those  students  who  are  Chris- 
tians and  Germans,  and  who  unite  to  form  a  free  com- 
munity, exercises,  as  the  only  association  that  justly 
has  authority,  all  legislative  and  judicial  power,  in  all 
the  relations  of  the  students  to  one  another. 

"  Therefore,  all  associations  in  the  universities, 
which,  as  Landsmannschaften,  Krantzchen,  or  under 
any  name,  arrogate  to  themselves  a  peculiar  authority, 
and  thereby  oppose  the  establishing  of  equality  and 
unity  in  the  universities,  must  be  entirely  and  for  ever 
done  away  with. 

"  The  first  point  to  be  acted  upon,  is  the  establish- 
ment of  a  court  of  honor,  before  which  all  questions 
of  honor  must  in  future  be  brought  ;  and  of  a  law  of 
honor,  or  Ehrenspiegel,  which  must  be  the  authority 
for  all  students,  and  especially  for  the  court  of  honor. 

"  The  old  regulations  of  the  Comment,  in  so  far  as 
they  do  not  recognise  the  existence  of  the  Lands- 
mannschaften, and  other  associations  no  longer  suited 
to  our  times,  shall  have  the  authority  they  have  had 
heretofore  till  the  formation  of  a  new  law  of  honor." 

It  seems,  that  the  government  made  no  objection 
to  the  real  objects  of  this  meeting.  Those,  who  were 
convinced  of  the  desirableness  of  this  proposed  refor- 
mation in  the  university,  conferred  together,  and  each 
one  drew  up  a  code  of  honor,  according  to  his  own 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  41 

views  ;  and,  after  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  various 
opinions,  at   the   expiration  of  eight  days  a  code  of 
laws  was  adopted,  as  expressing  the  wishes  of  the 
Burschenschaft,  and  as  a  just  result  of  the  articles 
of  agreement  already  exhibited.     They  agreed,   that 
all  those  who  took  the  Ehrenspiegel  for  a  guide,  ac- 
cepted it  not  as  an  unchangeable  law,  resting  on  the 
power  of  individuals  or  of  the  whole  body,  but  simply 
as  the   expression  of  their  present  conviction,  which 
they  were  willing  at  any  time  to  exchange  for  a  better. 
"  It  seems,  that,  at  the  meeting  at  which  the  Ehren- 
spiegel was  offered,  a  part  of  the  students  withdrew, 
without  regard    to   the  earlier  unanimous  resolution, 
and  divided  into  separate  associations  ;  from  the  idea, 
as  it  was  supposed,  that  a  party  was  to  be  formed  and 
party  views  were  to  be  carried  ;  but  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  new  formation,  the   Ehrenspiegel  itself, 
its    comprehensiveness,  the    character  of  the  public 
meetings,  free  and  open  to  all  honorable  students,  must 
convince   every   impartial  judge,  that  we  have  been 
true  to  our   first  resolution,   and   have   taken  these 
steps,  not  that  we  might  make  our  convictions,  as  such, 
the  law,  but  that  the  right  might  prevail. 

"  But,  that  the  purity  of  our  intentions  may  appear 
more  clearly,  and   that  all  divisions  in  the  university 
may  be  destroyed,  we  ask  those  students,  who  think 
they  ought  to  govern  themselves  by  a  different  law, 
amicably  to  communicate  their  views.     We  wish  that 
they  would  either  propose  them  at  our  public  meet- 
ings, or  choose  those  who  shall  unite,  with  an  equal 
number  from  among  us,  to  consult  for  the  common 
4* 


42  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

good  of  the  Burschenschaft,  and  especially  to  effect 
a  union  between  the  old  Comment  and  the  Ehren- 
spiegel.  The  result  will  prove,  that  we  are  as  ready 
to  sacrifice  our  own  opinion  to  any  better  one,  as 
we  are  to  bid  defiance  to  every  opinion  founded  on 
mere  authority  or  custom. 

"  In  the  interval,  we  offer  again  the  articles  of  ac- 
commodation we  have  already  proposed  ;  on  which,  as 
well  as  on  the  present,  we  ask  an  immediate  reply. 

"  Agreed  to  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  Bur- 
schenschaft." 

This  proposal  was  treated  with  insolent  contempt 
by  the  Landsmannschaften,  but  the  Burschenschaft  still 
maintained  a  calm  and  dignified  conduct  towards  them. 
Soon  afterward  there  appeared  the  following  : 

"  The  general  assembly  of  the  students  chooses 
five  students,  whose  special  duty  it  shall  be  to  ex- 
hibit and  explain  the  Ehrenspiegel.  It  shall  also  be 
the  duty  of  these  five  to  receive  all  reasonable  prop- 
ositions from  other  students  for  accomplishing  a  union 
of  opinion  in  the  university.  These  five  shall  seek 
to  convince  ;  if  any  error  is  pointed  out  in  the  Ehren- 
spiegel, it  shall  be  their  duty  to  lay  it  before  the 
general  meeting  for  examination,  and  for  amendment, 
if  necessary.  This  decree  must  be  made  known  to  the 
students  in  a  body,  without  regard  to  any  associations, 
which,  from  their  nature,  are  opposed  to  our  princi- 
ples, and  whose  entire  abolition  has  already  been 
unanimously  agreed  upon. 
"  Giessen,  January  18th,  1817.  In  general  assembly." 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  43 

But  the  Landsmannschaften  strove  obstinately  for 
the  Comment  system  ;  for  their  exclusive  right  to  con- 
duct the  affairs  of  the  students,  and  to  exercise,  by 
means  of  their  assemblies,  the  highest  jurisdiction. 

In  this  spirit  appeared,  at  length,  the  following  de- 
cree of  excommunication. 

"  In  full  assembly  of  the  association  of  Hassia  and 
Constantia,  in  accordance  with  the  direction  of  the 
Comment,  sentence  of  excommunication  has  been 
passed  on  those  Renongen  named  in  the  enclosure  ; 
inasmuch  as,  at  several  times,  they  have  declared  that 
they  will  no  longer  acknowledge  the  Comment. 

"Giessen,  January  20th,  1817." 

To  the  Burschenschaft  this  condemnation  appeared 
very  ridiculous  ;  but  it  was  also  a  serious  matter,  inas- 
much as,  through  it,  the  cause  of  the  Ehrenspiegel 
would  take  the  appearance  of  a  party  cause,  in  direct 
opposition  to  its  very  nature.  All  sorts  of  calum- 
nies were  spread  against  the  adherents  of  the  Ehren- 
spiegel, with  the  object  of  making  them  odious,  as  men 
dangerous  to  the  state,  as  Jacobins.  They  were  called 
Schwartz  und  Roth-mantel  (Black  and  Red  Cloaks)  ; 
and  were  accused  of  a  desire  to  overthrow  the  ex- 
isting sovereigns,  and,  as  a  preliminary  step,  of  endeav- 
ouring to  stir  up  the  universities.  The  sentence  of 
excommunication  was  transmitted  to  the  other  uni- 
versities, together  with  a  list  of  the  proscribed,  in 
order  that  any  of  them,  who  should  chance  to  enter 
other  universities,  might  be  treated  there  as  they  were 
here  ;  and  with  the  most  urgent  warning  to  do  every 
thing  to  stifle  this  black  beginning  of  what  threat- 


44  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ened  to   renew  the  terrors   of  the   French   revolu- 
tion. 

The  effect  of  this  communication  is  unknown  to 
the  narrator,  except  that  the  students  of  Tubingen  re- 
jected it  with  indignation.  The  partisans  of  the  as- 
sociations, most  of  them,  put  the  cockade  of  their 
own  sovereign  in  their  hats  (a  thing  never  before 
seen  in  Giessen) ;  and,  not  only  in  the  streets  of  Gies- 
sen  the  cry  resounded,  of  "  Black  traitors  !  Black 
bandits  !  "  but,  even  throughout  Hesse,  the  most  ter- 
rible reports  were  spread,  so  that  many  parents  ur- 
gently insisted  on  their  sons  immediately  leaving  this 
dangerous  place,  which  was  preparing  the  destruction 
of  their  future  fortunes.  Many  persons  of  conse- 
quence in  Darmstadt  and  Giessen,  especially,  among 
the  latter,  Professor  Arens,  said,  distinctly,  that  the 
adherents  of  the  Ehrenspiegel  were  state  traitors,  who, 
with  his  consent,  should  never  hold  an  office  in  the 
state. 

Such  rumors  obliged  the  adherents  of  the  Ehren- 
spiegel, as,  in  consequence  of  them  the  Burschen 
cause  had  become  a  criminal  cause,  to  destroy  these 
suspicions,  to  discontinue  their  meetings  in  the  form 
hitherto  used,  and,  giving  up  every  thing  external,  to 
stand  united  in  the  bond  of  conviction  only,  in 
the  living  mirror  of  honor  in  the  breast,  as  the  tri- 
bunal of  an  inward  law  ;  but,  with  regard  to  externals, 
to  recognise  expressly  the  Senate  and  the  statutes,  as 
the  only  lawgiver. 

It  was  necessary  to  accomplish  this  resolution  on 
the  spot  ;  for,  on  the  very  evening  of  the  day  it  was 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  45 

passed,  a  happy  chance  discovered  to  the  Ehren- 
spiegel  a  paper,  in  the  hands  of  a  leader  of  the  Lands- 
mannschaften,  a  traitor  ;  a  man,  who,  afterwards,  ban- 
ished as  a  cheat  and  branded  by  public  opinion,  was 
forced  to  leave  the  university.  In  this  paper  the 
friends  of  the  Ehrenspiegel  were  directly  denounced 
as  guilty  of  high  treason  ;  and  the  rector  was  required, 
in  virtue  of  his  office,  to  make  inquest,  or  he  would 
come  under  suspicion  of  connivance. 

The  friends  of  the  Ehrenspiegel  immediately  called 
a  meeting,  and  drew  up  a  memorial,  which,  with  all 
the  papers  belonging  to  the  association,  they  present- 
ed to  the  rector.  Had  they  waited  till  the  inquiry 
into  their  proceedings  had  commenced,  or  had  they 
destroyed  their  papers,  they  would  have  been  ac- 
cused as  a  secret,  forbidden  association,  and,  on 
mere  suspicion,  would  have  been  expelled. 

The  memorialists  solemnly  declared,  that  the  ob- 
ject, of  each  one  of  the  subscribers  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Ehrenspiegel  was  no  other  than  this, 
to  unite  the  whole  body  of  the  students  ;  to  the 
end,  that  the  best  convictions  in  morals  and  public 
opinion  should  be  fully  carried  out  in  the  university. 
It  was  further  shown,  that  they  had  never  united  as  a 
combination,  as  a  party  opposed  to  other  parties,  but 
always  for  a  community  ;  for  freedom,  equality,  and 
unity,  in  the  university. 

The  writer  of  the  pamphlet  states,  "  that  the  adher- 
ents of  the  Ehrenspiegel  were  unwillingly  obliged,  in 
vindicating  themselves,  to  lay  before  the  government 
the  arbitrary  and  insulting  conduct  of  the  Landsmann- 


46  LIFE    OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

schaften,  who  still  continued  to  oppose  them  in  every 
way.  Some  they  endeavoured  to  induce  by  persua- 
sion, others  by  flattery,  to  return  to  their  allegiance 
to  them  and  the  Comment. 

"  The  inquiry  which  followed  was  diligently,  care- 
fully, and  impartially  carried  on,  in  the  name  of  the 
Senate,  by  the  rector,  Professor  Balser,  and  Professor 
von  Lohr.  It  began  with  an  inquiry  into  many  cul- 
pable acts,  which  the  opponents  of  the  Ehrenspiegel 
had  allowed  themselves  to  commit  against  its  friends  ; 
while  the  latter,  true  to  their  first  intention,  recog- 
nised in  the  others,  not  opponents  of  themselves,  but 
of  their  good  cause,  and  were  themselves  guilty  of  no 
culpable .  act.  Some  members  of  the  Senate  were 
sharp-sighted  enough  to  recognise,  in  this  very  inno- 
cence, a  proof  of  deep-rooted,  dangerous  designs. 
"  The  very  fact,"  it  was  said,  u  that  they  no  longer 
havR  Burschen  feelings,  proves  them  dangerous." 

'  A  severe  punishment  was  expected,  in  case  the 
criminality  of  the  combinations,  and  especially  of  in- 
dividual members  of  them,  was  proved.  The  accu- 
sations against  the  friends  of  the  Ehrenspiegel,  of  dis- 
affection and  conspiracy,  were  diligently  inquired  into. 
The  charges  against  them  by  the  members  of  the 
Landsmannschaften  were,  that  they  entertained  treason- 
able purposes,  which  they  artfully  disguised  ;  that  they 
were  connected  secretly  with  a  Volks  und  Freiheits 
Bunde  (People  and  Freedom  Union),  spread  through- 
out Germany,  and  that  their  purpose  was  to  overthrow 
all  existing  institutions.  They  represented  them  as 
very  dangerous  men,  even  from  their  high  morality, 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  47 

which  gave  them  weight  and  influence  with  the 
people.  In  consequence  of  this,  inquiries  were  made 
for  secret  diplomas,  meetings,  &c.,  but  without  suc- 
cess. The  entire  groundlessness  of  the  charges  was 
made  manifest,  so  as  to  brand  the  accusers  as  wicked 
slanderers. 

"After  these  attempts  of  the  members  of  the  Lands- 
mannschaft  had  failed,  Professor  Arens  came  forward 
in  the  Senate  with  two  charges,  which  will  be  given 
here,  because,  as  two  important  features  in  this  ex- 
amination, they  spread  a  clear  light  over  the  whole. 
"  The  first  was  directed  against  that  member  of  the 
Burschenschaft,  who,  in  the  general  meeting  of  the 
Burschen,  at  the  end   of  the  summer  of  1816,  men- 
tioned  above,  had   offered  a  plan  for  the  removal  of 
the  disorders   arising  from   the  Comment,  and  for  a 
commonwealth   to   be  established   in  the  universities. 
"  Professor  Arens  asserted,  that  the  establishme0*  of 
such   an   institution  had  been  at  that  time  forbidd^i, 
and  that,  as  rector,  he  had  particularly  threatened  the 
student,  who  proposed   the  plan,   with  expulsion,  in 
case  it  was  established  ;   but  that  this  prohibition  had 
been   openly  transgressed    by  the    formation    of  the 
Ehrenspiegel,  and  that,  therefore,  there  would  be  no 
longer  any  justice  in  the  world,   if  that  student,  at 
least,  were  not  expelled. 

"  The  latter  declared  to  the  court  in  reply,  that  all, 
which  the  then  rector  had  at  that  time  forbidden,  had 
been  scrupulously  foreborne,  namely,  the  foundation 
of  a  Frei-Staat  (free  state),  to  raise  up  demagogues 
and  turbulent  preachers  of  freedom.  The  remaining 


48  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

resolutions,  occasioned  by  that  address,  had  been 
expressly  approved  by  Professor  Arens,  and  had 
been  praised  by  him  in  the  speaker's  presence.  The 
public  and  general  councils  every  fortnight,  which 
were  then  appointed,  were  discontinued  agreeably  to 
the  rector's  order. 

"  For  truth's  sake,  it  must  be  here  observed,  that 
some  voices  were  raised,  even  in  the  Senate,  suc- 
cessfully attacking  this  threat  of  expulsion  as  illegal 
and  despotic. 

"  The  next  accusation  of  Professor  Arens  was  found- 
ed on  a  conversation  with  an  individual,  from  which 
Arens  inferred,  that  the  Ehrenspiegel  was  dangerous, 
because  the  good  of  the  whole  country  was  its  de- 
clared object,  rather  than  that  of  separate  provinces. 
This  conversation,  contrary  to  his  solemn  promise, 
he  made  a  ground  of  accusation. 

"  After  an  examination  of  from  four  to  six  weeks' 
length,  notwithstanding  many  malicious  and  ill-natured 
attempts  of  their  opposers,  the  perfect  innocence  of 
the  Ehrenspiegel  was  established. 

"  Then  followed  a  trial  of  those  who  had  brought 
the  accusations.  They  acknowledged  that  they  had 
broken  the  laws  of  the  university,  but  this  was  from 
anxiety  for  the  interests  of  the  Grand  Duke  ;  they 
were  to  be  regarded  as  martyrs  to  their  love  of  their 
prince.  The  whole  thing  appeared  very  clear  to  the 
academical  Senate ;  nevertheless  opinions  were  di- 
vided. 

"But  few  defended  the  right  ;  and  even  these  were 
ignorant  of  the  real  object  of  the  Ehrenspiegel.  To 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          49 

decide  for  the  obviously  unjust,  could  not  be  done, 
from  respect  to  public  opinion  ;  to  decide  against  it, 
however,  and  for  the  right,  appeared  dangerous  for  the 
Gloria  obsequa.  At  last  the  Senate  took  courage,  and 
decreed,  by  a  majority  of  voices,  that  the  adherents 
of  the  Ehrenspiegel  were  not  guilty.  The  leaders  of 
the  Landsmannschaften,  however,  were  punishable 
according  to  the  laws. 

"  With  this  the  power  of  the  Senate  seemed  ex- 
hausted ;  they  could  not  pass  judgment  against  their 
own  child.  So  the  documents  were  gathered  to- 
gether, and  sent  to  the  ministry  at  Darmstadt.  Only 
one  requisition  was  made  by  the  Senate  ;  that  the 
opposers  of  the  Ehrenspiegel  should  appear  before 
them,  and  renounce  the  Comment  and  their  accu- 
sations. The  friends  of  the  Ehrenspiegel  were  ad- 
monished, that,  although  they  had  deserved  credit  for 
their  moderation,  and  that,  although  their  object  in 
itself  might  be  good,  yet  the  result  showed,  that  the 
carrying  it  out  was  not  advisable. 

"  In  this  decision  the  Ehrenspiegel  is  treated  as  a 
forbidden  association,  as  well  as  the  Landsmann- 
schaften, which  was  in  no  respect  the  case.  As  it 
conformed  to  the  laws,  the  accusation  could  only  refer 
to  certain  political  views  with  which  it  was  charged. 
It  was  political  so  far  as  all  that  is  good  in  politics,  and 
as  the  good  of  the  country,  was  its  object.  The 
whole  is  cheerfully  intrusted  to  such  judges  as  in- 
quire, with  serious  interest,  into  the  condition  of  our 
German  universities  ;  who  see,  in  the  efforts  of  the 
German  youth,  not  unmeaning  sport,  but  the  decision 

VOL.  i.  5 


50  LIFE   OP   CHARLES   POLLEN. 

of  the  great  question,  *  Death  or  life  to  the  unhappy 
country.'  " 

There  is  appended  to  the  pamphlet  an  account  of 
all  the  particular  statutes  of  the  Ehrenspiegel,  which 
were  mostly  drawn  up  by  Charles  Follen,  and  after- 
wards accepted  by  the  whole.  As  they  are,  most  of 
them,  laws  for  the  adjustment  of  differences,  and  as 
the  principles,  upon  which  these  regulations  were 
founded,  are  clearly  set  forth  in  what  has  already 
been  quoted,  I  have  not  thought  it  best  to  give  them 
a  place  here. 

Prefixed  to  the  statutes  of  the  Ehrenspiegel,  are 
the  following  lines  by  the  editor. 

"  Der  Gottheit  Blitzstrahl,  der  aus  finstrer  Wolke 
Aus  dieser  Sturmzeit,  herrlich  sich  entzundet, 
Die  Liebe,  die  uns  All'  in  Gott  verbiindet, 
Als  Gottes  Stiiniu'  im  Menschen  wie  im  Volke 
Lebendig  neu  der  Menschheit  Urbild  grflndet, 

Die  durch  den  Heiland, 

Die  jezt  und  weiland 

Uns  durch  so  viel  Blutzeugen  ist  verkdndet, 
Sie  gibt  das  Feuer  uns  zum  ktlhnen  Handeln, 
Das  Licht,  urn  frei  der  Wahrheit  Bahn  zu  wandeln." 

LITERAL    TRANSLATION. 

"  The  lightnings  of  God,  from  out  of  dark  clouds, 
Flash  gloriously  forth  in  this  time  of  storms, 
Love,  which  binds  all  together  in  God, 
As  his  voice  in  each  man  and  in  nations, 
Livingly  new  the  image  of  manhood  creates ; 

Which,  through  the  Saviour, 

Now  and  for  ever, 
Is  shown  forth  by  so  many  martyrs, 
'T  is  this  for  bold  deeds  gives  us  ardor, 
And  light  in  the  pathway  of  truth  to  walk  freely." 


CHAPTER    III. 


His  Devotion  to  Study.  —  Receives  his  Degree  at  the  University. 
—  Lectures  at  Giessen.  —  Practises  Law. — Studies  the  De- 
istical  Writers.  —  Takes  up  the  Cause  of  the  Communities. 

His  zealous  efforts  for  the  attainment  of  his  great 
object,  the  establishment  of  a  Christian  German  Bur- 
schenschaft,  which  should  be  governed  by  principles 
of  justice  and  a  pure  morality  ;  and  all  the  struggles 
and  contentions  and  apparent  failures,  which  fol- 
lowed, did  not  interfere  with  that  faithful  devotion  to 
literary  pursuits,  which  had  hitherto  distinguished 
Charles  Follen  among  students.  On  the  contra- 
ry, a  more  constant  and  regular  attention  to  study 
was  a  part  of  the  reform  which  he  and  his  friends 
hoped  to  introduce  into  the  burschen-leben  (student's 
life).  It  was  at  this  period,  and  during  the. war  of 
independence,  that  he  and  his  brother  wrote  many 
patriotic  songs,  some  of  them  adapted  to  popular 
airs,  and  many  set  to  music  of  their  own  composing. 
These  are  to  be  found  in  a  little  collection,  called 
"  Freie  Stimmen  frischer  Jugend."  "Free  Voices 
of  fresh  Youth,"  published  in  Jena,  in  the  year  1819, 
by  Augustus  (or,  as  he  called  himself,  Adolph)  Follen. 

Charles  Follen  was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  cele- 


JMB 
52  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

J*fA 

brated  "  Great  Song,"  written  about  this  time  ;  some 
extracts  from  which  I  have  given  at  the  end  of  this 
volume,  with  all  the  other  songs  of  his  which  I  have 
been  able  to  collect.  The  burning  hatred  of  tyranny, 
the  enthusiastic  and  tender  love  of  his  Father-land, 
and  the  heroic,  the  religious  devotion  to  freedom, 
which  glows  with  an  intense  fervor  in  this  very  re- 
markable poem,  caused  it  afterwards  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  those  in  power,  who  thought  themselves 
attacked  by  it.  He  never  acknowledged  himself  pub- 
licly as  its  author,  but  he  was  strongly  suspected  of 
writing  it,  and  it  doubtless  formed  one  of  the  grounds 
of  accusation  against  him. 

These  songs,  and  his  fearless  declaration  of  his 
loyalty  to  the  highest  and  truest  freedom,  borne  out 
by  his  pure  life,  and  the  undoubted  tendency  of  such 
opinions,  when  supported  by  a  man  of  powerful  mind, 
to  awaken  republican  sentiments  among  the  generous 
youth  of  the  country,  made  him,  very  naturally,  an 
object  of  fear  and  suspicion  to  the  government.  .*»> 

It  was  indeed  true,  that  his  faith  set  no  limit  to 
the  almost  miraculous  power  of  a  great  principle, 
fearlessly  adhered  to,  even  by  a  single  individual ;  and 
he  probably  looked  for  results  from  a  truly  Christian 
German  Burschenschaft,  that  might  have  made  emper- 
ors and  kings  tremble  on  their  thrones.  Had  he 
contemplated  a  violation  of  the  laws,  had  he  held  the 
common  notions  of  a  revolution,  men  in  power  would 
not  have  feared  him.  But  he  supported  and  taught 
principles,  and  lived  them  out  in  all  their  just  and 
beautiful  and  glorious  proportions,  which  would  level 


* 

LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN.  53 

all  unjust  distinctions  in  the  human  family,  and  make 
him  the  greatest  among  his  brethren  who  should  be  the 
servant  of  all.  Thus  did  he  in  truth  labor  to  under- 
mine the  foundations  of  all  unjust  and  arbitrary  power. 

The  intimate  and  tender  friendship,  which  had 
always  existed  between  Charles  and  his  father,  made 
it  impossible  that  he  should  not  communicate  to 
him  the  great  hopes  and  generous  purposes  of  his 
heart.  But  his  father  saw  more  clearly  than  he  the 
invincible  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  plans  ;  and,  with 
prophetic  fear,  foresaw  the  persecutions  and  evils  it 
would  bring  upon  his  beloved  child.  He  sympa- 
thized with  him,  but  he  opposed  him.  His  mother 
says, 

"  In  Charles's  ideas  about  Volksthum  (people's 
rights),  the  liberty  of  the  individual,  of  speech,  and 
of  the  press,  no  one  agreed  more  fully  with  him  than 
his  father,  who,  with  his  thorough  uprightness  and 
love  of  justice,  with  his  powerful  and  clear  under- 
standing, saw  plainly  what  was  wanting,  and  how 
ings  might  be  better  ;  but,  being  firmly  convinced  of 
the  impracticability  of  using  any  successful  means  to 
remedy  these  evils,  on  account  of  the  roughness  of  the 
erman  character,  the  want  of  energy  in  the  people, 
their  indolence,  and  the  entire  want  of  a  spirit  of  union, 
he  despaired  of  success.  Charles,  in  his  enthusiasm, 
disbelieved  all  this,  and  at  times  attempted  to  con- 
vince his  father  of  the  contrary  ;  but,  as  the  latter 
could  never  converse  quietly  on  the  subject,  and  be- 
came excited,  Charles  always  dropped  the  conversa- 
tion ;  saying,  in  his  gentle  way,  '  Dear  father,  you 
5* 


54  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

cannot  speak  calmly  on  these  questions  ;  we  must 
let  them  alone.'  He  then  spoke  of  something  else, 
and  afterwards  avoided  such  topics." 

He  had  pursued  the  study  of  the  law  at  Giessen 
principally  under  the  guidance  of  the  celebrated  civil- 
ian, Dr.  von  Lohr,  and  Dr.  Grolmann,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  teachers  of  the  penal  law.  He 
finished  his  studies  in  1817,  and,  after  a  twofold  ex- 
amination in  all  the  branches  of  jurisprudence,  he 
received  his  diploma  as  Doctor  of  both  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  law.  In  speaking  of  this  event,  his 
mother  says, 

"  He  supported  his  theses  with  such  solid  learning, 
and  gave  such  forcible  replies,  that  his  performance 
excited  universal  attention  at  Giessen.  What,  how- 
ever, pleased  and  amused  him  very  much,  was,  that 
his  little  sister  Augusta,  then  only  six  or  seven  years 
old,  had  made  acquaintance  with  the  children  of  the 
janitor,  in  order  that  she  might,  with  her  own  hands, 
pull  the  bell  on  the  tower  of  the  college,  the  ringing 
of  which  marks  the  moment  when  a  degree  is  con- 
ferred on  a  student.  She  succeeded,  and  with  great 
joy  told  him,  upon  his  return  home,  that  it  was  she 
that  rung  the  bell,  at  which  he  was  greatly  delighted. 
My  daughter,  even  now,  would  not  part  with  the 
recollection  of  this  pleasure  at  any  price." 

I  find,  in  his  own  handwriting,  the  following  trans- 
lation of  his  diploma. 

"  Under  the  auspices  of  the  Grand  Duke,  and  in 
conformity  with  a  decree  of  the  Senate,  the  Rector 
of  the  university,  Francis  Joseph  Arens,  J.  U.  D., 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  55 

and  Charles  Louis  Will,  de  Grolmann,  J.  U.  D., 
Chancellor,  and  particularly,  in  the  name  of  the  faculty 
of  law,  the  Privy  Counsellor,  John  Daniel  Henry 
Musaeus,  J.  U.  D.,  confer  upon  the  honored  and 
learned  Charles  Follen,  of  Romrod,  in  consequence 
of  the  evidence  he  has  given  of  his  distinguished 
learning  in  jurisprudence,  the  highest  academical  hon- 
ors, as  Doctor  both  of  the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical 
law,  with  all  the  appertaining  immunities,  preroga- 
tives, rights,  and  privileges,  according  to  the  rites 
and  customs  of  our  ancestors  ;  on  the  fourteenth  of 
March  1818  ;  confirmed  by  the  great  seal  of  the  uni- 
versity." 

Dr.  Follen  then  began  to  lecture,  at  the  university 
of  Giessen,  on  various  parts  of  jurisprudence,  while 
he  studied  the  practice  of  the  law  at  the  court  where 
his  father  presided. 

It  was  during  this  period,  that  he  was  led  to  make 
a  thorough  examination  into  all  the  arguments  against 
Christianity.  From  his  earliest  youth,  he  had,  as  his 
mother's  letter  declares,  manifested  a  deeply  religious 
character.  The  religious  sentiment  had  prevailed  in 
his  mind  ;  but  he  was  never  satisfied  with  a  mere  senti- 
lent  ;  it  was  necessary  that  his  highest  reason  should 
be  convinced.  Divinity  had  been  one  of  his  studies 
in  the  university.  Such  a  mind  as  his  must  neces- 
sarily pass  through  a  painful  period  of  doubt,  of  ab- 
solute skepticism.  It  pressed  heavily  upon  him.  In 
speaking  of  this  period  of  his  life,  he  has  said  to  me, 
that,  as  soon  as  he  was  conscious  of  his  doubts,  he 
resolutely  determined  not  to  try  to  evade  the  enemy, 


IP 

56  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

but  to  meet  him  face  to  face  ;  he  resolved  to  ex- 
amine every  argument  which  the  most  powerful 
minds  had  brought  forward  against  religion.  He 
studied  Hume  and  all  the  other  English  infidel 
writers,  and  the  French  encyclopedists.  He  faithful- 
ly studied  Spinoza  and  the  other  pantheistic  writers. 
He  waded  through  all  these  melancholy  volumes,  and 
rose  from  the  perusal  of  them  with  the  conviction, 
that,  if  these  works  contained  all  the  arguments 
against  revealed  religion,  their  cause  was  as  weak  in 
argument  as  it  was  hopeless  and  gloomy  in  its  con- 
clusions. He  often  spoke  of  the  beneficent  effect, 
upon  his  mind,  of  this  fearless  investigation  of  this 
most  important  of  all  subjects,  which  was  the  firmest 
and  most  joyful  faith  that  I  have  known  any  one  to 
possess.  He  said  once,  in  a  lecture  upon  this  top- 
ic, where  he  recommended  a  courageous  examina- 
tion of  the  arguments  for  and  against  Christianity, 
"  For  myself  I  can  certainly  say,  that,  next  to  the 
Gospel  itself,  the  books  that  have  been  written 
against  it  have  been  the  most  efficient  promoters  of 
my  belief  in  its  divine  truth." 

There  was  a  serene  joy,  a  calm  assurance,  in  his 
faith,  that  gave  him  a  mysterious  and  almost  irre- 
sistible power  over  the  minds  of  others. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1817,  that  a  great  festival 
was  held  at  the  Wartburg  in  commemoration  of  the 
battle  of  Leipsic  and  of  the  Reformation.  Students 
from  all  the  different  universities  met  there,  not  only 
to  recall  to  their  memories  the  glories  and  triumphs 
of  the  past,  but  to  form  new  hopes  and  plans  for  the 


LIFE   OP   CHARLES   POLLEN.  57 

future.  Present  troubles  and  disappointments  were 
discussed,  plans  of  union  were  formed,  and  a  more 
thorough  reformation  than  even  Luther's  was  pro- 
posed. In  a  little  pamphlet,  published  by  Massmann, 
all  their  doings  and  sayings  are  related.  Many  ad- 
dresses, full  of  generous,  youthful  enthusiasm,  and  of 
a  glowing  love  of  freedom,  are  there  given.  Patri- 
otic songs  were  sung  by  the  assembled  students.  A 
few  extracts  from  this  pamphlet  will  show  the  charac- 
ter of  the  whole,  and,  as  they  evince  the  prevailing 
state  of  feeling  among  the  students,  I  venture  to  give 
them. 

"  As  the  song  closed,  a  student  of  Jena  mounted 
the  platform.  After  solemnly  greeting  the  students 
who  had  assembled  together  at  this  German  Youth 
Festival,  and  the  rest  of  his  hearers,  he  thus  began  : 
'  And  what  is  the  object  of  our  meeting  here  to- 
gether ?  None,  none  other,  but  that  we  may  con- 
jointly recall  to  our  minds  the  image  of  the  past,  and 
draw  from  thence  strength  for  the  stirring  deeds  of 
the  present ;  that  we  may,  in  common,  deliberate 
upon  our  respective  works  and  purposes  ;  that  we 
may  interchange  our  thoughts  ;  that  we  may  embody 
the  idea  of  our  student  fraternity  in  all  its  purity  ;  and, 
lastly,  that  we  may  show  the  nation  what  she  yet  may 
hope  from  her  youth,  the  soul  that  animates  them, 
and  the  respect  they  pay  to  unity  and  brotherly  good 
will. 

"  '  Four  years  have  passed  since  that  great  battle. 
The  German  people  cherished  fond  hopes  then, 
which  now  are  all  dissipated.  All  is  different  from 


58  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEIf. 

what  we  then  expected.  Of  all  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many, but  one  alone  has  redeemed  his  pledged  word  ; 
and  he  it  is,  in  whose  free  land  we  are  solemnizing 
this  festival  of  victory.  Such  a  result  as  this  has 
brought  low  the  courage  of  many  valiant  men.  They 
perceive,  that  all  is  not  as  it  should  be  with  the 
much-vaunted  excellence  of  the  German  people. 
Many  have  withdrawn  from  public  life,  which  once 
dawned  so  propitiously  on  all,  and  have  sought  in  re- 
tirement an  equivalent  for  this  in  the  calm  pursuit  of 
knowledge.  Some  have  even  preferred  seeking  anoth- 
er father-land  in  distant  regions,  where  a  new  life  was 
opening. 

"  f  Now,  then,  now  and  for  ever,  ye  noblest  of  our 
nation,  proclaim  your  approbation  of  these  our  senti- 
ments. We  will  abide  by  what  we  have  sworn,  so 
long  as  one  drop  of  blood  swells  our  veins.  The 
spirit  that  guides  us  hither,  the  spirit  of  truth  and  jus- 
tice, shall  lead  us  on  through  the  path  of  life;  and, 
as  sons  of  one  and  the  same  father-land,  we  shall 
stand  a  brazen  wall  against  every  external  and  internal 
foe  who  threatens  our  country.  In  time  of  need  they 
promised  to  give  us  a  father-land,  one  common  father- 
land of  justice  ;  but  this  dearly-bought  day  of  union 
has  not  yet  dawned  upon  us." 

"  c  But  one  prince  has,  prince-like,  redeemed  his 
promise,*  a  bright  pattern  to  all  others,  a  true  Ger- 
man among  Germans,  one,  whose  ancestors  were 
ever  among  the  first  to  unsheath  the  sword  for  purity 

*  This  was  the  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar. 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          59 

of  faith  and  justice.  O,  may  others  follow  in  his 
steps,  and  that  right  soon.  One  thing  the  German 
people  have  gained,  the  strength  of  self-confidence. 
Never  can  they  again  be  lulled  in  the  sleep  of  dis- 
honor, never  can  they  forget  their  disgrace,  or  their 
joyous  and  brotherly  waking  up  to  combat  for  their 
God  and  his  justice. 

"  '  He,  who  dares  to  die  for  his  father-land,  he, 
too,  may  dare  to  speak  of  the  means,  by  which  he  best 
may  serve  her  in  the  time  of  peace.  Then  let  us 
stand  boldly  forth,  and  speak  that  which  is  good  in 
the  face  of  the  free  heavens  ;  for,  God  be  praised, 
the  time  has  come  when  the  German  need  no  longer 
fear  the  serpent-like  tongue  of  the  spy,  nor  the  axe 
of  the  tyrant,  and  none  need  crave  the  pardon  of 
others  when  he  would  speak  of  truth  and  holiness. 
But  the  Spirit  of  virtue  and  love  will  have  a  father- 
land, though  we  should  have  none.  He  can  only 
dwell  in  the  midst  of  one  united  and  brotherly  com- 
munity, and  we,  as  yet,  are  weak,  divided,  and  scat- 
tered.' " 

The  free  sentiments,  expressed  in  the  address  from 
which  these  extracts  are  made,  are  a  clear  manifesta- 
tion of  public  sentiment  at  this  time,  and  this  must  be 
remembered  in  judging  of  the  reasonableness  of  Dr. 
Follen's  hope  of  the  regeneration  of  the  people. 
The  burning  hatred  of  tyranny,  and  love  of  freedom, 
which  he  expresses  in  the  songs  he  wrote  at  this  pe- 
riod, he  in  fact  only  shared  with  all  the  truly  noble 
and  generous  spirits  of  the  country.  He  was  not  at 
the  feast  of  the  Wartburg.  He  and  his  friends,  with 


60  LIFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

other  students  who  remained  at  Giessen,  commemo- 
rated the  day  by  partaking  together  of  the  Lord's 
supper.  The  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  which  had  led 
the  German  nation  to  victory  on  that  day,  four  years 
before,  this  band  of  religious  and  patriotic  young  men 
thought  worthy  of  Him  who  laid  down  his  life  for 
mankind  ;  and  it  was  in  order  to  cherish  this  spirit, 
and  that  they  might  anew  pledge  themselves,  in  this 
solemn  way,  to  a  life  of  self-sacrificing  devotion  to 
their  country's  welfare,  that  they  chose  this  mode  of 
keeping  the  day  holy. 

The  most  important  cause,  in  which  Dr.  Follen 
was  employed  as  counsellor,  arose  in  the  summer  of 
1818.  In  that  part  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  which  is 
called  the  province  of  Hesse,  (or  Upper  Hesse,)  the 
communities  of  towns  and  villages  had  borne  all  the 
burdens  of  the  different  wars  of  the  French  in  Ger- 
many, from  the  time  of  their  revolution  to  the  final 
overthrow  of  Napoleon  in  1815.  During  these  twen- 
ty years,  the  communities,  being  left  without  any  as- 
sistance from  the  government  of  the  Grand  Dukedom, 
were  authorized,  by  the  latter,  to  contract  debts  upon 
the  property  of  each  town  or  village.  Although  these 
debts  had  accumulated  to  several  millions  of  dollars, 
the  credit  of  the  communities  remained  in  general  un- 
diminished  ;  the  interest  was  regularly  paid,  and  their 
creditors  were  satisfied  with  their  endeavours  to  dis- 
charge the  principal  gradually,  as  they  recovered  the 
means.  But  their  actual  state  of  distress  was  taken 
advantage  of  by  some  counsellors  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  who  were  desirous  of  depriving  the  communi- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  61 

ties  of  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  and  of 
taking  it  into  their  own  hands,  and,  by  this  means,  of 
destroying  the  last  remnant  of  political  independence, 
which  was  founded  upon  the  common  property  of 
each  town.  These  counsellors  prevailed  with  the 
Grand  Duke  to  establish  a  commission,  which  should 
be  the  genera!  creditor  of  all  the  communities  and  the 
debtor  of  all  their  creditors.  At  the  head  of  this 
commission  was  a  financier,  who  was  strongly  sus- 
pected of  having  enriched  himself  with  the  public 
property  on  previous  occasions.  The  salaries  of  tV>e 
commissioners  and  the  expenses  of  their  administration 
were  to  be  paid  by  the  communities,  whose  debts 
were  consequently  increased  by  this  amount,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  commission  was  invested  with  ex- 
tensive powers  to  seize  upon  the  property  of  the 
towns,  if  the  increased  rate  of  interest,  by  which  the 
principal  was  to  be  paid  off,  should  not  be  discharged 
within  the  fixed  term.  This  law  of  the  Grand  Duke 
was  published  in  the  official  Gazette  of  the  9th  of 
July,  IS  18. 

Although  the  communities  were  able  and  willing  tq 
pay  off  their  debts  in  a  manner  and  space  of  time 
which  satisfied  their  creditors,  they  were  then,  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  too  much  exhausted  to  comply  with 
the  arbitrary  terms  of  the  decree  of  the  government, 
which  had  left  them  without  protection  during  the 
war  ;  and  the  creditors  themselves  declared,  that  they 
would  much  rather  rely  on  the  credit  of  the  commu- 
nities, than  on  that  of  the  commission  of  the  state. 

VOL.  i.  6 


62  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

The  communities  therefore  saw,  in  this  new  decree 
of  the  government,  the  destruction  of  their  property, 
credit,  and  independence  ;  and  those,  who  thought 
themselves  particularly  endangered,  began  to  remon- 
strate against  this  measure  in  the  most  submissive 
manner.  Then  almost  all  the  communities  of  Hesse 
met  by  deputies,  and  appointed  a  counsellor  to  pre- 
sent to  the  government  their  united,  humble,  and 
earnest  remonstrance.  But  the  government  immedi- 
ately declared  this  union  seditious,  and  threatened  to 
deprive  every  counsellor-at-law  of  his  office,  who 
should  serve  in  this  cause.  The  appointed  counsel- 
lor withdrew,  declaring,  that  he  should  still  be  willing 
to  make  out  a  sketch  of  the  economical  state  of  the 
communities,  if  they  could  find  another  lawyer  who 
would  vindicate  the  legal  ground  of  their  remon- 
strance. 

The  communities  applied  to  Dr.  Follen  to  take 
up  their  deserted  cause  by  addressing  to  him  the  fol- 
lowing letter. 

"  Sir,  —  It  is  probably  known  to  you,  that  the 
communities  of  the  Province  of  Hesse  have  united 
together  to  present  an  humble  petition  to  his  Royal 
Highness  the  Grand  Duke,  concerning  tbe  institution 
for  paying  off  the  debts  of  the  communities,  and  to 
solicit  the  repeal  of  this  decree,  as  well  on  account 
of  its  inevitable  and  great  injury  to  the  welfare  of  the 
communities,  as  on  account  of  the  violation  of  their 
corporate  fights  which  it  implies.  For  this  purpose 
the  communities  have  already  appointed  the  public 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  63 

advocate  Eaehm,  at  Giessen,  as  their  agent,  and  have 
elected,  for  the  management  of  their  urgent  affairs,  a 
committee,  the  names  of  whose  members  you  find 
here  subscribed. 

"  The  committee  think  it  their  duty  to  neglect 
nothing,  in  order  that  the  just  complaints  of  the  com- 
munities may  be  thoroughly  represented  to  the  gov- 
ernment. They  wish,  therefore,  particularly  to  ob- 
tain, from  an  approved  jurist,  a  legal  statement  of 
those  points,  in  which  the  abovementioned  decree  is 
contrary  to  the  settled  and  well-founded  rights  of  the 
communities,  with  particular  reference  to  the  former 
decrees  of  the  government  concerning  the  administra- 
tion and  employment  of  the  property  of  the  commu- 
nities. 

"  We  desire  you,  Sir,  to  compose  this  part  of  our 
petition  which  relates  to  the  law,  that  we  may  pre- 
sent it  to  the  government,  together  with  our  economi- 
cal complaints. 

"  If  you  should  be  inclined,  Sir,  to  comply  with 
our  request,  as  we  hope,  the  syndic  Bru'hl,  at  Lich, 
will  supply  you  with  any  notice  you  may  require. 

"  It  is  understood,  that  we  shall  endeavour  proper- 
ly to  compensate  your  trouble  ;  and  we  have  the 
honor  to  sign  ourselves,  Sir, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servants, 

11  JOHN  HENRY  JUNG, 

Burgomaster  of  Lanbach. 
"  GLOSS, 

Mayor  of  Welfersheim. 
&c.  &c. 

"  Hungen,  August  30th,  1818." 


64  LIFE   OF   CH.ARLES    FOLLEN. 

In  the  petition  which  Dr.  Follen  drew  up  in  be- 
half of  the  communities,  he  showed,  first,  that  their 
finances  did  not  call  for  any  interference  of  the  gov- 
ernment in  their  affairs  ;  then  the  injustice  of  the 
measures  contained  in  the  law  of  the  9th  of  July, 
1818,  was  set  forth,  in  regard  to  general  principles 
as  well  as  to  the  law  of  the  land.  It  was  entitled, 
11  An  humble  petition  of  several  hundred  communi- 
ties of  the  Province  of  Hesse,  beseeching  the  Grand 
Duke  of  Hesse-Darmstadt  to  repeal  the  establish- 
ment of  the  commission  for  paying  off  the  debts  of 
the  communities,  and  to  continue  to  them  the  admin- 
istration of  their  own  affairs." 

Before  either  the  commission  or  the  government 
were  able  to  take  preventive  measures,  Dr.  Follen 
caused  this  petition  to  be  presented  to  the  Grand 
Duke  by  a  committee  of  some  of  the  most  respect- 
able men  of  the  community.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
printed,  distributed,  and  announced  in  the  newspa- 
pers. 

Notwithstanding  many  efforts  to  put  down  the 
cause  of  the  communities,  public  opinion  declared 
itself  so  strongly  against  the  flagrant  injustice  of  the 
measures  of  the  government,  that  the  Grand  Duke 
was  prevailed  upon  to  repeal  the  whole  law  of  the 
9th  of  July,  dispossessing  all  the  members  of  the 
commission  of  their  offices,  and  reducing  every  thing 
to  its  former  state. 

This  law  of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
repealing  the  law  of  the  9th  of  July,  1818,  was 
published  afterwards,  in  the  official  Gazette  of  the 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  65 

Grand  Dukedom,  on  the  28th  of  November  follow- 
ing. 

The  communities,  through  their  committee,  sent  a 
letter  to  Dr.  Follen,  acknowledging  the  great  ser- 
vices he  had  rendered  them,  and  concluding  with 
these  words.  "  We  certify,  with  the  sincerest  grati- 
tude for  the  services  he  has  rendered  to  the  Prov- 
ince, that  he  has  conducted  this  affair  with  the  zeal 
of  a  faithful  advocate,  and  the  disinterestedness  of  a 
good  citizen."* 

The  entire  success  of  the  cause  of  the  communi- 
ties of  his  native  Province  drew  upon  Dr.  Follen  the 
hatred  of  all  those  influential  persons,  whose  object 
had  been  frustrated  in  the  abovementioned  cause. 
Dr.  Follen  soon  after  was  called  upon,  in  the  name 
of  a  large  number  of  the  most  respectable  citizens,  to 
draw  up  a  petition  for  the  purpose  of  inducing  the 
Grand  Duke  to  fulfill  the  promise  he  had  solemnly 
given  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  to  establish  a  repre- 
sentative constitution  in  his  dominions.  This  was 
the  first  of  those  petitions,  which  afterward  induced 
the  government  to  introduce  a  certain  order  of  things, 
which  had  at  least  the  appearance  of  a  constitution. 

The  forsaken  cause  of  the  communities,  which  Dr. 
Follen  had  carried  through  so  triumphantly,  was  un- 
dertaken in  less  than  six  months  after  he  had  finished 
his  university  studies,  before  he  was  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  and  with  the  knowledge,  that  his  suc- 

*  This  account  of  the  cause  of  the  communities  is  taken  from  a 
manuscript  in  Dr.  Follen's  handwriting. 

6* 


66          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

cess  in  life,  so  far  as  it  depended  upon  the  govern- 
ment, was  utterly  destroyed  by  his  so  doing.  The 
other  counsellor,  who  relinquished  it,  was  a  married 
man,  and  regretted  the  necessity  of  yielding  to  unjust 
power.  But  Dr.  Follen  was  free,  and  rejoiced  in 
the  opportunity  of  giving  this  proof  of  his  allegiance 
to  principle.  There  was  no  period  of  his  life,  that 
he  looked  back  upon  with  such  unmingled  pleasure 
as  upon  this.  He  loved  to  speak  of  it.  He  knew, 
that  it  laid  the  foundation  of  the  final  ruin  of  all  his 
hopes  in  his  native  land  ;  but  he  seldom  alluded  to 
that.  He  loved  to  describe  the  appearance  of  the 
simple-hearted,  reverend  delegates  from  the  commu- 
nities, and  their  gratitude  to  him  for  his  exertions  in 
their  behalf.  He  loved  to  remember  the  general 
burst  of  generous  indignation,  which  was  called  forth 
from  the  people  by  the  petition  he  drew  up,  stating 
the  injustice  of  the  new  law  ;  and  his  own  joy  at  the 
triumph  of  simple  right  against  arbitrary  power  and 
selfish  cunning.  He  forgot,  he  was  indeed  all-uncon- 
scious at  these  times,  by  what  sacrifices  the  good  had 
been  obtained. 

Dr.  Follen's  success  was,  as  he  anticipated,  the 
ruin  of  all  his  hopes  in  his  own  country.  From  this 
time  he  was  the  object  of  an  unrelenting  persecution. 
Finding  his  hopes  utterly  blighted  in  Giessen,  he  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  from  a  friend  to  lecture  in  Jena. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


He  goes  to  Jena.  —  Is  joined  by  Wit. —  Lectures  on  the  Pandects. 
—  Death  of  Kotzebue. — Dr.  Follen  is  arrested.  —  Carried  to 
Manheim.  —  Is  acquitted  and  returns  to  Giessen. 

DR.  FOLLEN  left  Giessen  in  the  early  part  of  Oc- 
tober, 1818.  On  the  way  he  met  with  a  Mr.  John 
Wit,  who  accompanied  him  to  Jena.  This  man, 
who  afterwards  became  celebrated,  though  not  in  a 
very  honorable  way,  was  a  man  of  talents,  had  an  in- 
sinuating manner,  and  was  singularly  handsome.  He 
was  at  this  time  under  some  disgrace  on  account  of 
an  affair  at  the  university  he  had  left,  and  it  was  a 
great  object  with  him  to  find  some  support  for  his 
questionable  character  in  an  intimacy  with  one  whose 
character  was  unimpeached.  He  professed  great 
penitence  for  his  follies,  great  devotion  to  the  cause 
of  freedom,  and  made  so  many  fair  promises,  that  he 
succeeded  in  making  Dr.  Follen  believe,  that  a  true 
friend  might  make  him  a  good  man.  He  has  often 
spoken  to  me  of  this  person,  and  said  he  knew  how 
vain  and  selfish  he  was,  but  he  still  hoped  to  reclaim 
him  by  kindness  ;  and  the  circumstance,  that  others 
cast  him  off,  gave  him  a  new  claim  upon  his  benevo- 
lence. When  they  arrived  in  Jena,  Wit  took  lodgings 


68  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

at  the  same  house,  and  he  professed  the  greatest  devo- 
tion to  Dr.  Follen,  and  affected  even  a  greater  inti- 
macy with  him  than  actually  existed.  He  promised 
to  live  a  life  of  purity  and  self-denial,  and  thus  fit 
himself  to  be  a  fellow-worker  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom. We  shall  see  how  he  kept  his  promises. 
"  He  proved,"  said  a  friend  of  Dr.  Follen,  who 
knew  him  well,  "  a  snake  in  his  bosom." 

Dr.  Follen  immediately  commenced  a  course  of 
lectures  on  the  Pandects.  His  mother  says,  "  His 
reception  at  Jena  was  very  honorable,  and  he  had, 
very  soon,  a  highly  respectable  audience.  He  lec- 
tured with  eminent  success.  Oken,  Wieland,  &c. 
were  his  friends,  and  received  him  into  their  circle. 
We  encouraged  the  most  cheerful  hope  with  regard 
to  him."  A  learned  German,  a  friend  of  Dr.  Fol- 
len's,  the  same  who  invited  him  to  come  to  Jena, 
was  with  him  all  the  time  he  was  there,  and, 
after  seven  years  of  imprisonment  for  political  of- 
fences, has  come  to  this  country  in  search  of  free- 
dom. He  tells  me,  that  it  was  thought  a  very  extra- 
ordinary thing  in  Germany  for  so  young  a  man  to  ven- 
ture to  lecture  upon  the  Pandects,  and  that  he  treated 
the  subject  very  ably,  entering  into  and  explaining 
the  original  principles  of  natural  right  upon  which  the 
civil  law  rests.  Besides  his  public  lectures,  he  had  a 
private  class  of  young  men,  whose  studies  he  directed 
in  a  review  of  the  Pandects  previous  to  their  leav- 
ing the  university.  This  department  of  instruction 
was  usually  filled  by  much  older  and  more  ex- 
perienced men,  and  was,  until  his  death  the  last  win- 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          69 

ter,  the  peculiar  department  of  the  celebrated  civilian 
Thibeaut,  whose  lectures  were  attended  by  law  stu- 
dents from  all  parts  of  Germany,  as  well  as  other 
countries,  at  the  conclusion  of  their  studies.  This 
friend  also  tells  me,  that,  as  a  proof  of  the  great 
interest  and  real  excellence  of  his  lectures,  the  whole 
class,  which  was  very  respectable,  remained  with  him 
to  the  very  last,  which  would  not  have  been  the  case, 
unless  the  lectures  had  been  interesting,  as  well  as 
truly  valuable.  He  adds,  that,  notwithstanding  this 
great  labor,  he  always  had  time  for  his  friends,  and 
was  much  in  society.  His  next  course  of  lectures  in 
Jena,  in  the  following  summer,  was  upon  the  history 
of  the  Roman  law  Institutes. 

Dr.  Pollen's  life  at  Jena  was  a  period  of  great  ex- 
citement and  trial.  His  hope  of  a  moral  and  political 
reform  in  Germany,  which  should  have  its  beginning 
in  the  universities,  was  still  ardent  and  unchanged. 
There  were  many  who  sympathized  with  his  views  to 
a  certain  extent,  but  beyond  that  were  strongly  op- 
posed to  him.  He  stood  ready  always  to  follow  out 
his  principles  to  their  legitimate  results.  He  was  no 
compromiser.  If  the  principle  was  true  and  just,  he 
would  be  faithful  to  it  at  all  costs  ;  if  false,  he  would 
relinquish  it  entirely.  He  thought  we  had  nothing  to 
do  with  consequences,  only  with  principles  ;  and  that 
we  must  wait,  in  the  calm  and  assured  faith,  that  what 
is  true  and  right  in  itself  can  never  be  dangerous  in 
the  end.  There  were  very  few  who  could  follow  him 
in  this  unconditional  adherence  to  a  great  principle  ; 
but  all  respected  him,  and  even  those,  who  bitterly 


70  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

opposed  and  feared  him,  could  not  withhold  their  ad- 
miration. They  saw,  that  he  took  his  stand  on 
Christian  ground,  and  first  made  himself  the  image  of 
that  excellence  which  he  proposed  for  all. 

An  event  occurred,  about  six  months  after  Dr. 
Follen  went  to  Jena,  which  was  made  use  of  by  the 
government  to  complete  the  ruin  of  his  prospects  in 
his  own  country.  Kotzebue  had  long  been  an  object 
of  hatred  and  contempt  to  the  liberal  party,  on  ac- 
count of  his  heartless  ridicule  of  all  their  dearest  pur- 
poses and  most  cherished  hopes.  It  was  well  known, 
that  he  received  a  salary  from  the  Russian  govern- 
ment while  he  resided  in  Germany  ;  and  it  was  gen- 
erally believed,  that  one  part  of  the  service  he  ren- 
dered in  return  was,  to  act  the  part  of  a  spy  upon 
his  native  land.  Such  was  the  abhorrence  his  char- 
acter excited  in  the  mind  of  a  young  fanatic  in  the 
cause  of  freedom,  by  the  name  of  Sand,  that  he 
thought  himself  called  upon  by  Providence  to  put  an 
end  to  his  life.  He  deliberately  went  to  Kotzebue's 
house,  asked  to  see  him,  and  assassinated  him.  Im- 
mediately afterward  he  stabbed  himself,  and  gave  him- 
self up  to  the  officers  of  justice.  It  was  said,  that,  in 
coming  out  of  Kotzebue's  house,  after  perpetrating 
this  insane  deed,  he  met  a  little  son  of  the  murdered 
man,  and  that  suddenly  all  the  tenderness  of  his  na- 
ture revived,  and  he  was  so  affected  at  the  thought  of 
the  injury  he  had  done  the  child,  that  he  suddenly 
resolved  to  give  himself  up  for  punishment  as  an  act 
of  justice  to  the  poor  orphan  boy.  His  wound  was 
tended  with  the  greatest  care,  and,  owing  to  the  iron 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  71 

strength  of  his  constitution,  he  so  far  recovered  as  to 
enable  him  to  meet  the  punishment  for  murder. 

A  close  investigation  was  immediately  instituted, 
in  order  to  ascertain  whether  Sand  had  any  accom- 
plices, although  he  had  declared  that  he  had  none. 
All  his  personal  friends  were,  in  turn,  summoned  to 
Manheim  to  be  examined.  Nothing,  however,  was 
discovered.  Every  one  knew,  that  it  was  a  piece  of 
mad  fanaticism  in  Sand,  growing  out  of  a  wild  notion, 
that  he  was  the  instrument,  designed  by  Heaven  to 
punish  the  traitor  Kotzebue.  Saving  this  one  act, 
his  life  was  irreproachable  ;  and  even  here  he  undoubt- 
edly thought  he  was  doing  right.  But  the  expression 
of  such  an  opinion  of  him  was  dangerous  ;  and,  as 
is  well  known,  the  learned  and  excellent  De  Wette 
was  removed  from  his  office  upon  its  being  discov- 
ered, that  he  had  written  a  letter  of  consolation  to  the 
mother  of  Sand,  in  which  he  tried  to  comfort  her 
with  the  idea,  that,  although  her  son  had  done  a 
wicked  act,  it  was  from  a  mistaken  notion  of  duty. 

The  murder  of  Kotzebue  was  committed  in  March. 
In  the  May  following  Dr.  Follen  was  summoned  to 
Weimar,  to  be  examined  as  a  suspected  accomplice. 
Nothing,  of  course,  could  be  discovered.  He  re- 
turned and  finished  his  lectures.  At  the  same 
time  that  the  investigations  were  making  to  discover 
the  supposed  accomplices  of  Sand,  an  inquisition  was 
carrying  on  in  Jena  to  discover  the  author  of  the 
"  Great  Song  "  before  spoken  of.  Parts  of  it  had 
been  set  to  music,  and  it  was  not  only  sung  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  students,  but  by  the  people  in  the  market- 
places ;  and  doubtless  it  did  excite  the  minds  of  many 


72  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  \ 

to  a  new  zeal  for  freedom,  or  rather  it  became  the 
vehicle  for  the  utterance  of  feelings  which  glowed  with 
unquenchable  ardor  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  all. 

It  was  supposed  to  be  Sand  who  had  published 
the  song,  and  it  was  said  by  those  who  sought  for  an 
excuse  to  vent  their  indignation  against  its  suspected 
author,  that  it  had  excited  Sand  to  the  perpetration  of 
his  terrible  act.  No  one  of  those,  who  knew  who  had 
written  the  song,  betrayed  the  secret.  The  friend 
I  have  before  quoted  says,  that  once,  when  Dr. 
Follen  was  under  arrest,  on  suspicion  of  being  the 
author  of  the  song,  the  students  assembled  under 
his  window  and  sung  it  to  him. 

During  this  summer  the  Empress  Dowager  of  Rus- 
sia, mother  of  the  Duchess  of  Weimar,  who  had 
come  to  visit  her  daughter,  was  expected  in  Jena. 
The  public  authorities  caused  triumphal  arches,  deco- 
rated with  evergreens  and  complimentary  inscriptions, 
to  be  erected  in  the  streets  through  which  she  would 
pass.  The  Senate  of  the  University  held  a  meet- 
ing upon  the  occasion,  and  the  students  were  in- 
vited by  them  to  join  in  the  public  celebration  by 
forming  a  procession  by  torch-light.  This  was  re- 
fused. They  were  then  requested  to  abstain  from 
any  disrespectful  act.  This  was  agreed  to  by  the  stu- 
dents. But  Mr.  Ferdinand  John  Wit,  who  seemed 
anxious  to  make  himself  famous,  set  himself  to  work 
to  destroy  the  arches,  which  he  succeeded  in  doing. 
In  addition  to  this,  an  insulting  refusal  of  the  request 
of  the  government  was  published  on  the  black  board 
of  the  university.  As  it  was  thought  certain  he 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          73 

would  be  expelled,  Wit  declared  himself  the  author, 
not  only  of  the  destruction  of  the  arches,  but  of  the 
offensive  words  on  the  black  board,  and  also  of  the 
obnoxious  song.  No  one,  of  course,  believed  that  he 
had  done  all  these  things.  He  was  pronounced  de- 
ranged, and  sent  home  to  his  mother. 

Dr.  Follen  thought  that  he  was  now  free  from  all 
danger,  and  pursued  his  occupations  as  usual.  But, 
in  the  following  October,  he  was  suddenly  waked,  one 
night,  by  a  noise  in  his  room,  and  found  himself  sur- 
rounded by  gens  d'armes.  Upon  asking  what  they 
wanted,  he  was  told,  that  they  came  to  take  him  to 
Manheim.  As  this  was  the  place  where  Sand  was 
imprisoned,  he  understood  well  the  object  of  taking 
him  there  ;  it  was  to  confront  him  with  Sand.  The 
officers  busied  themselves  with  seizing  all  his  papers. 
He  was  in  a  deep  sleep  when  they  entered,  and  the 
sudden  waking  had  startled  him  ;  but  he  soon  re- 
covered his  faculties,  and  immediately  recollected, 
that  he  had  a  letter,  which,  if  they  got  possession  of  it, 
might  be  of  serious  injury  to  the  person  who  wrote  it. 
With  great  composure  he  requested  to  be  allowed  to 
dress  himself.  He  then  watched  his  opportunity, 
and,  without  the  slightest  hurry,  took  the  paper  from 
the  place  where  he  had  laid  it,  and  put  it  into  the 
stove,  where  there  was  still  a  fire.  He  had  done  this 
with  such  apparent  unconcern,  that  they  suspected 
nothing  till  they  saw  the  flame  of  the  paper.  u  You 
have  burnt  a  paper,"  said  one  of  the  gens  d'armes. 
"  Yes,  I  have,"  he  replied  very  calmly.  They  took 
possession  of  all  the  remaining  papers.  Dr.  Follen 

VOL.  i.  7 


74  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN, 

was  carried  first  to  Weimar,  where  he  was  again  ex- 
amined, and  then  was  allowed  to  go  by  himself,  on 
his  parole,  to  Manheim. 

At  Manheim  he  had  to  submit,  once  more,  to  the 
most  tedious  and  vexatious  examinations.  He  was 
questioned  and  cross-questioned  in  the  most  trying 
manner.  He  was  confronted  with  Sand  in  his  prison  ; 
and  every  effort  was  made  to  prove  him  guilty,  but  in 
vain.  Nothing  was  to  be  found  against  him  ;  and  he 
was  acquitted. 

Dr.  Follen's  interview  with  Sand  in  his  prison 
deeply  affected  him.  "  No  one,"  he  has  told  me, 
"  could  help  loving  Sand."  He  saw  him  there  ly- 
ing on  his  bed,  in  prison,  still  suffering  from  his 
wound,  and  quietly  waiting  for  the  physicians  to  pro- 
nounce him  sufficiently  strong  to  be  publicly  exe- 
cuted. When  Dr.  Follen  first  entered  his  prison, 
he  attefnpted  to  approach  him  in  order  to  take  his 
hand,  but  the  officers  prevented  him.  After  a  long 
and  very  trying  interview,  which  both  of  them  en- 
dured with  the  utmost  patience  and  calmness,  when 
there  was  no  longer  any  thing  to  ask  him,  and  they 
were  about  to  lead  him  away,  the  sight  of  his  poor, 
deluded  friend,  so  quietly  and  so  cheerfully  waiting 
the  cruel  death  that  was  to  finish  his  sufferings,  and 
conclude  the  strange  tragedy  of  his  life,  the  beautiful 
expression  of  his  noble  countenance,  and  his  convic- 
tion of  the  purity  of  his  misjudging  mind,  so  overcame 
him,  that,  in  spite  of  the  presence  of  his  stern  judges 
and  all  the  dictates  of  prudence,  he  suddenly  pushed 
those  aside  who  would  have  held  him  back,  and,  rush- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  75 

ing  to  the  bedside  of  his  still  dear  friend,  took  him 
in  his  arms,  and  pressed  him  to  his  heart,  as  he  bade 
him  farewell  for  ever. 

The  artful  and  vexatious  examinations,  to  which 
Dr.  Follen  had  been  subjected,  could  have  been  only 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  an  excuse  for  the  severe 
measures,  which  they  were  disposed  to  take,  to  get 
rid  of  a  man  whom  they  feared,  but  whom  they 
could  find  no  fault  with.  They  were  indeed  baffled 
in  this  purpose,  for  there  was  not  the  smallest  proof 
against  him.  But,  though  honorably  acquitted,  he 
was  forbidden  to  lecture  any  longer  in  Jena  ;  and  he 
returned  to  Giessen. 


CHAPTER    V. 


Extracts  from  a  Pamphlet  vindicating  Dr.  Follen  from  the  Attacks 
of  Wit.  —  Character  and  Purposes  of  Wit.  —  Character  of 
Dr.  Follen.  —  His  Influence  in  the  Universities.  —  Wit's  Flight 
into  France. 

THUS  terminated  his  residence  in  Jena.  His  pre- 
tended friend,  John  Wit,  some  time  afterwards,  when 
he  perceived  that  he  had  attached  himself  to  a  fail- 
ing cause,  deserted  it,  and  by  that  means  not  only 
saved  himself  from  danger,  but  secured  the  favor 
of  its  enemies.  He  wrote  a  pamphlet,  which  pre- 
tended to  lay  open  all  the  schemes  of  the  liberal 
party,  and  which  was  particularly  seasoned  by  a  viru- 
lent attack  upon  Dr.  Follen,  whom  he  accused  of  the 
most  wicked  and  blood-thirsty  designs.  An  anony- 
mous pamphlet,  in  reply  to  the  absurd  and  monstrous 
charges  in  this  little  book,  was  published  in  the  year 
1 828  by  the  friend  before  spoken  of,  who  was  with 
him  all  the  time  of  his  residence  in  Jena,  and  who, 
as  I  have  before  mentioned,  is  now  in  this  country. 

A  few  extracts  from  this  pamphlet  will  throw  light 
upon  this  period  of  his  life,  and  show  the  estimation 
in  which  Dr.  Follen  and  his  pretended  friend  were 
held  by  those  who  were  nearest,  and  best  able  to 
judge  of  them  both. 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.  77 


The  book,  from  which  I  make  these  extracts,  is 
entitled, 

"  German  Youth,  associated  lately  in  Burschen- 
schaften  and  Gymnastic  Communities.  — Materials  for 
the  promised  First  Part  of  the  Fragments  from  the 
Life  of  the  Adventurer,  Ferdinand  John  Wit,  named 
Von  Dorring.  —  With  Reference  to  the  frank  Ob- 
servations of  Major  von  Lindenfels  on  the  Second 
Part  of  these  Fragments." 

"  Preface. 

"  The  following  pages  were  written  shortly  after 
the  appearance  of  the  '  Memoirs  of  Herr  von  Dor- 
ring,'  and  the  observations  with  which  Herr  von 
Lindenfels  accompanied  them.  Many  reasons  have 
restrained  the  author  from  letting  these  cursory  obser- 
vations follow  sooner  the  abovenamed  book.  Herr 
von  Lindenfels  has  found  himself  obliged  to  alter  ma- 
terially his  first  opinion  of  the  author  of  the  Frag- 
ments. Yet  he  has  not  considered  it  necessary  to 
modify  also  his  judgment  of  persons  and  things, 
the  knowledge  of  which  he  seems  to  have  gained  al- 
most entirely  through  Herr  von  Dorring.  This,  and 
the  conviction,  that  he,  with  many  others,  has  and  can 
have  no  correct  view  of  these  things,  induced  the 
author  to  give  these  pages  to  the  public.  He  would 
willingly  have  cast  a  glance  at  the  life  and  doings 
of  the  German  youth  between  the  years  1820  and 
1824,  but  he  dared  not  encroach  upon  that  time,  as 
he  was  wanting  in  accurate  knowledge  of  the  connex- 
ion of  the  events  of  those  years.  Should  it,  however, 
7* 


78          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

appear,  as  if  he  had  sought  to  spread  too  favorable  a 
light  on  the  events  of  the  preceding  years,  he  begs  it 
will  be  recollected,  what  masses  of  shadow  have  till 
now  been  thrown  on  these  pictures  of  life.  But 
where  a  moral  idea  moves  the  life  of  a  human  being, 
life  will  and  must  preserve  a  worth  for  him  which 
the  disapproval  of  others  cannot  destroy.  Err  he 
may,  so  long  as  he  thinks  and  strives  ;  but  his  error 
can  hardly  be  called  sin,  when,  in  his  youth,  he 
loses  himself  in  ideals,  according  to  which,  inspired 
by  love  for  all  goodness  and  beauty,  he  dares  to 
measure  the  life  without  him. 

"  Therefore  it  seemed  right  to  the  author,  once 
again,  with  the  fullest  serenity  of  mind,  to  look  back 
into  his  and  his  friend's  early  life,  and  to  draw  a  pic- 
ture thereof  as  well  as  he  was  able.  Not  according 
to  rule  would  he  draw  it  ;  not  through  the  dim  glass 
would  he  look  back,  which  the  cold,  politic,  expe- 
rienced man  of  the  world  would  apply  ;  he  would  look 
with  youthful  eyes,  and  become  again  animated  with 
th  i  remembrance  of  the  spring-time  of  his  life. 

"  And  so  let  these  pages  go  forth.  Whether 
truth  or  prejudice  has  guided  the  pen  of  the  author, 
the  unprejudiced  man  will  easily  discover,  by  recall- 
ing his  own  fair  youth,  and  then  will  easily  pardon 
the  petulance  with  which  he  has  treated  some  sub- 
jects, for  which  he  could  find  no  worthier  mode  of 
treatment. 

"  June  1,  1828." 

The  first  chapter  contains  a  sarcastic  and  rather 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  79 

amusing  sketch  of  Ferdinand  John  Wit  and  his  dif- 
ferent names.  The  second  gives  a  particular  ac- 
count of  the  festival  of  the  Wartburg  and  its  real  pur- 
poses. The  third  contains  many  particulars  of  the 
character  and  history  of  Jahn,  of  whcim  the  author 
speaks  very  highly.  It  also  explains  many  little  cir- 
cumstances and  facts  in  relation  to  Wit  and  his  his- 
tory, previous  to  his  coming  to  Jena  with  Dr.  Fol- 
len.  At  the  fourth  chapter  I  commence  my  ex- 
tracts. 

"  Thus  enriched,  Ferdinand  returned  after  this 
three  months'  absence,  but  not  alone.  He  had  wise- 
ly associated  with  himself  the  powerful  Charles  Fol- 
len,  who,  as  he  knew,  was  then  about  to  set  out  for 
Jena,  in  order  to  try  his  fortune  as  a  lecturer.  He 
was  also  well  aware,  that  Count  Bocholz  and  others 
obnoxious  to  him  were  going  to  Jena  at  the  same 
time  ;  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  excite  some  predis- 
position in  his  favor,  he  had  acquainted  Dr.  Fol- 
len  with  his  fate  in  Jena,  in  order  to  move  the 
latter  to  take  him  under  his  protection,  as  a  m  ^t 
cruelly  oppressed  man. 

"  When  we  returned  after  the  vacation,  we  called 
on  Dr.  Follen,  and  found  him,  not  only  in  the 
same  house,  but  in  the  same  lodging,  with  the  de- 
ceased Ferdinand.*  They  had  hired  three  contig- 
uous apartments  ;  and  Ferdinand,  on  whom  we  first 
called,  told  us,  that  he  intended  to  live  very  retired 
through  the  winter,  and  study  under  Follen's  direc- 
tion ;  that  he  should  take  little  share  in  the  common 

*  Alluding  to  his  change  of  name. 


80  MFE   OF  CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

Burschen-leben  (students'  life),  and  that  neither  would 
Follen  waste  any  time,  as  he  meant  to  lecture  on  the 
Pandects.  '  Pandects  ?  '  said  we  in  surprise,  '  Has 
Dr.  Follen  already  lectured  on  the  Pandects  ?  Why 
does  he  not  rather  begin  with  the  Institutes  ? '  *  O ! ' 
replied  Ferdinand,  c  you  don' t  know  him  yet.  Fol- 
len is  equal  to  any  part  of  jurisprudence.  Besides, 
a  Pandectist  is  wanted  in  Jena.' 

"  We  then  begged  to  be  presented  to  Dr.  Follen. 
He  received  us  as  an  old  acquaintance  ;  and  we  called 
each  other  at  once  Du  (thou).  He  was  candid  and 
kind,  open  and  confiding,  without  appearing  to  de- 
mand the  same  manner  from  those  he  conversed  with. 
But  there  was,  in  his  bearing,  his  appearance,  the 
tones  of  his  voice,  in  his  movements,  his  glances,  in 
fact,  in  the  whole  man,  something  so  noble,  such 
calmness,  strength,  determination,  and  an  almost 
proud  earnestness,  a  something  peculiar  to  him- 
self, which  imperceptibly  inspired  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him  with  a  deep  feeling  of  respect. 
Picture  to  yourself,  in  addition  to  this,  a  very  smooth, 
somewhat  broad,  but  delicately  formed  forehead  ;  a 
well-shaped  nose  ;  deep  blue  eyes,  full  of  soul ;  a  red 
and  not  too  large  mouth  ;  thick,  light-colored  whis- 
kers ;  smooth,  light  hair,  which,  parted  on  the  middle 
of  his  forehead,  hung  around  his  neck  in  wavy  locks  ; 
a  skin  so  fair  and  rosy,  so  fresh  and  clear,  that  none, 
among  my  fair  readers,  would  for  a  moment  have  re- 
sented a  comparison  being  made  between  it  and  their 
own.  Again,  picture  to  yourself  this  head  on  a 
sound,  powerful,  and  well-grown  body  of  middle 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  81 

stature,  and  clothe  the  figure  ordinarily  in  a  blue, 
German  student's  coat,  trimmed  with  buttons  of 
mother  of  pearl,  and  you  will  have  before  you  the 
image  of  Dr.  Follen,  "  the  incarnate  devil,"  (the 
term  applied  to  him  by  Wit,  when  he  changed  his 
name  and  his  character.) 

"  This  man  was  as  serene,  pure,  and  chaste  in  his 
manners  as  in  his  words  ;  and  we,  who  have  visited 
three  different  universities,  can  assure  you,  that  we 
have  nowhere  met  his  equal,  nor  any  that  could  be 
compared  to  him,  for  purity  and  chasteness  of  man- 
ners and  morals.  You  will  allow,  however,  my  friend, 
that  this  devil  had  some  peculiar  crotchets  of  his  own. 
But  he  was  a  German  devil  ;  and,  for  the  reasons 
already  given,  so  much  the  more  of  an  incarnate 
devil.  He  concentrated  all  his  forces,  —  at  least,  so 
it  would  seem,  would  it  not? — in  order  to  aim  his 
murderous  blow  on  one  marked  point,  or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  to  effect  a  revolution. 

"  We  confess  to  you,  Major,  Follen  was  a  bloody 
revolutionist.  The  death  of  the  enemy  and  the 
freedom  of  the  human  mind,  not  only  lay  at  his 
heart,  and  his  heart  on  his  tongue,  but  his  powerful 
fist  might  be  seen  convulsively  clenched,  whenever 
he  heard  manacles  and  chains  clank.  .  .  .'••: .^±^* 
But,  at  the  same  time,  this  wan,  or,  as  John  von 
Miiller  would  say,  this  youth,  of  two-and-twenty,  had 
a  most  peculiar  manner  of  revolutionizing.  He  be- 
gan very  differently  from  other  revolutionizers,  and 
something  like  Pythagoras,  with  himself,  and  very 
soon  guillotined  the  old  government  within,  and  rid 


82  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

himself  of  evil  manners  and  habits,  or  rather  he  never 
had  any  to  operate  upon,  and  created  a  free  state 
within  himself. 

"  You  may  perhaps  smile,  gracious  Sir,  or  per- 
haps you  do  not  smile,  and,  venerating  the  most  hon- 
orable order  of  the  Dannebrog,  pursue  your  own  free 
thoughts  regarding  this  limited  free  state  ;  and  every 
one  will  own,  that  these  small  subdivisions,  —  for- 
give me  if  I  include  the  German  provinces  of  the 
king  of  Denmark  under  this  term,  —  have  often  made 
our  country  somewhat  powerless.  How  much  better 
would  it  then  have  been  if  Dr.  Charles  Follen  had  ad- 
hered to  the  good  free  manners  and  customs  that  are 
now  in  vogue,  and  not  neutralized  himself  like  Swit- 
zerland. 

"  But  we  will  return  to  Dr.  Follen.  The  de- 
ceased Frederick  left  us  soon  after  he  had  present- 
ed us  to  Follen,  who  immediately  turned  the  con- 
versation on  Roman  law.  He  spoke  with  animation 
of  this  subject,  and  showed  how  well-grounded  he 
was  in  it.  He  went  over  the  heads  of  the  introduc- 
tion he  intended  as  a  preface  to  his  lectures  on  the 
Pandects,  and  induced  us  thence  to  hear  these  dis- 
courses. Our  expectations  were  neither  deceived  nor 
satisfied.  The  point  of  view,  in  which  Dr.  Follen  re- 
garded the  Roman  law,  was  constantly  kept  in  sight 
throughout  the  whole  course  of  the  lectures.  He  de- 
duced its  main  doctrines  from  the  nature  of  social 
life,  and  sought  to  establish  the  existence  of  a  state 
of  harmony  between  this  and  the  human  mind.  He 
now  followed  out  this  harmony  historically,  and  gave 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          83 

explanations  wherever  it  either  seemed  doubtful  or 
impossible,  and  showed  how  it  might  be  called  forth. 
He  then  treated  his  subject  systematically,  according 
to  von  Lohr  and  Heise,  without  servilely  adhering  to 
his  own  view  of  a  consistent  arrangement  of  his  ma- 
terials. Dr.  Follen  had  unquestionably  studied  with 
diligence  ;  but  he  was  by  no  means  complete.  Yet 
his  digressions  had  always  a  certain  course  and  a  de- 
termined bearing.  In  his  views  and  opinions  there 
was  consistency  ;  in  his  propositions,  modesty,  clear- 
ness, and  dignity. 

"  All  this  bound  .us  closer  to  Follen.  But  we 
seldom  found  him  alone.  Ferdinand  watched  him  al- 
most jealously  ;  and,  besides  this,  he  had  older  and 
nearer  friends  around  him,  who  shared  his  hours  of 
leisure.  Yet  we  learned  to  know  his  views  on  poli- 
tics and  government,  and  soon  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  his  philosophical  and  political  system  ;  for  he 
opened  himself  freely  and  willingly  to  his  friends. 
He  showed,  however,  a  visible  endeavour  to  induce 
them  to  adopt  his  opinions,  *  to  convince  them,'  and 
by  this  means  establish,  betwixt  himself  and  them, 
unity  of  judgment,  thought,  will,  and  act. 

"  But  there  was  one  obstacle  in  the  way  of  these 
efforts,  which  it  was  not  easy  to  remove.  It  was 
this.  Follen's  philosophy  was  throughout  practical. 
He  maintained,  that  all  which  human  reason  recog- 
nises as  good,  beautiful,  and  true,  may  be  realized 
through  moral  effort.  Thus,  the  rational  man  must 
first  be  good,  true,  and  noble  in  himself,  and  then, 
through  him,  must  the  life  about  him  become  so. 


84          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

But,  before  all  others,  this  should  be  the  effort  and 
the  aim  of  the  educated  man,  and  of  him  who  is 
striving  after  the  true  culture  ;  for  only  the  exhibit- 
ing of  man  as  he  should  be  is  education,  and,  there- 
fore, that  life  alone  is  a  well-cultivated  one,  which 
has  been  ordered  throughout  by  right  reason,  that  is, 
by  man's  moral  nature.  To  this  point  should  we 
come  if  all  educated  men  so  willed  it.  For  these 
stand  at  the  head  of  life,  and  are  its  head  and  its 
heart.  And  the  state  must  be  ordered  according  to 
the  reason  of  its  members.  As  it  is,  it  is  a  hindrance 
to  the  complete  or  the  further  education  of  the  people. 
This  hindrance  must  be  removed  by  the  cultivated  ; 
and  the  state  so  ordered,  that  freedom  of  the  will,  in 
all  that  pertains  to  the  conscience  or  the  reason  of  its 
members,  be  therein  established. 

"  If  now  we  set  out  from  these  severe  principles, 
we  can  easily  understand,  how  one,  who  thinks  him- 
self all  that  he  should  be,  could  think  of  bringing  all 
without  him  to  be  like  himself.  But  the  misfortune 
is,  that  no  one  can  easily  be  as  he  ought  to  be  ;  and, 
besides,  external  life  will  always  bear  traces  of  this 
human  imperfection,  although  by  this  we  do  not  mean 
to  advance  any  weighty  argument  against  the  exis- 
tence, in  the  state,  of  a  reasonable,  intelligent,  and 
orderly  freedom  among  men. 

"  On  this  point,  Follen  displayed  a  self-confidence 
which  often  astonished  us.  He  was  bold  enough  to 
maintain,  that  he  lived  according  to  reason,  and  was  all 
that  reason  could  require  of  him  ;  and  we  must  own, 
that  even  his  wittiest  opponents  never  succeeded  in 


LltfE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN,  85 

beating  him  on  this  point  of  his  argument.  Yes,  Sir  ; 
Follen  was  so  confident,  so  bold,  so  proud,  and  exact- 
ing, that  he  would  speak  in  terms  of  indescribable 
contempt  of  the  meanness  and  weakness  of  him,  who 
deemed  that  the  consciousness  of  truth  and  beauty, 
and  the  conception  of  lofty  ideas,  could  ever  be 
separated  from  their  realization  in  life,  their  practice, 
and  their  developement  in  their  whole  extent.  For 
he  maintained,  that  the  consciousness  or  perception 
of  the  good  and  right  in  man  never  exceeds  his  force 
and  will,  and  that  both  are  bounded  by  the  same 
limits.  It  may  easily  be  supposed,  that  this  proud 
language  gave  offence  in  proportion  as  the  life  of 
Follen  himself  afforded  little  scope  for  the  refutation 
of  the  doctrines  he  maintained.  All  that  could  be 
objected  to  him  was  centred  in  the  reproach,  that 
might  be  made  against  his  want  of  a  sufficient  degree 
of  humility  and  modesty.  But  this  failing  in  a  man 
who  felt  his  own  importance,  and  saw  his  influence 
acknowledged,  was  seldom  manifested  otherwise  than 
by  a  compassionating  smile,  in  which  he  plainly 
seemed  to  say,  '  O  weak  spirit  !  your  envious  vani- 
ty and  idle  effeminacy  are  truly  senseless.' 

"  In  this  manner,  it  might  have  been  difficult  to 
maintain  a  friendship  with  Follen,  had  not  the  more 
passive  participators  in  his  opinions  stood  in  the  way 
of  a  rupture.  It  was  painful  to  all  to  break  with  him ; 
for,  since  some  among  the  old  friends  had  gone  over 
to  Follen's  bold  and  ideal  doctrines,  a  rupture  with 
him  also  brought  on  one  with  his  disciples  ;  as  he  re- 

VOL.  i.  8 


86  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

quired  an  unconditional  adherence  or  opposition  to 
his  views. 

"  We  have  used  the  word  unconditional  as  it  is  ap- 
plied by  Ferdinand  in  his  memoirs  ;  and  our  readers 
will  find,  further  on,  the  history  of  this  unconditionality 
set  forth,  which  played  so  important  a  part  in  the 
early  inquiries.  Already,  in  Giessen,  Charles  Follen 
had  brought  the  disputation  to  this  nice  point,  and 
here  he  remained  master,  as  he,  at  that  time,  was 
master  over  the  elements  of  the  life  of  his  Giessen 
friends,  (known  under  the  name  of  the  Black.)  But 
in  Jena  these  elements  were  not  under  his  control. 
The  course  of  the  developement  and  cultivation  of 
the  spirit  had  already  been  defined  and  followed  out 
by  the  excellent  Fries,  who,  in  latter  years,  had  exer- 
cised a  decided  influence  on  these  elements.  Added 
to  this,  Fries  was  universally  respected  as  a  man, 
and  even  Follen  himself  could  not  refuse  him  his  es- 
teem. 

"  As  soon  as  Follen  set  forth  this  unconditionality 
in  its,  full  extent,  every  thing  seemed  to  bow  before 
the  boldness  of  his  conceptions.  All  respected  the 
self-conviction,  which  was  so  proudly  and  strongly 
displayed  by  him  ;  but  they  felt,  at  the  same  time, 
that  they  could  only  respect  it  in  Follen,  and  could 
not  share  in  it  themselves.  But  then  people  did  not 
sufficiently  well  understand  themselves  to  arrive  at 
once  at  a  clear  perception  of  this  fact  ;  although  an 
internal  resisting  impulse  was  universally  acknowl- 
edged, which  deterred  the  generality  from  bidding  de- 
fiance, with  Follen,  to  all  history,  to  all  past  and  pres- 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  87 

ent,  and  maintaining,  that  that  which  had  been,  had 
been  made  what  it  was  entirely  by  man,  and  that  it 
might  as  easily  have  been  different,  if  men  had  acted 
*  up  to  a  better  conviction,  and  been  willing  to  put 
reason  in  possession  of  her  full  rights.  And  Follen 
maintained,  that  he  himself  acted  up  to  this  better 
conviction  or  understanding.  In  a  political  sense  this 
feeling  was  purely  republican,  for  he  would  have 
built  up  the  state  on  the  model  of  what  man  ought 
to  be,  and  looked  upon  himself  as  able,  in  his  own 
person,  to  afford  a  fitting  representative  of  this,  at  the 
same  time  holding  himself  justified  in  requiring  a  like 
opinion  from  others.  And  this  he  further  demanded 
unconditionally  ;  whence  it  followed,  that  they,  who 
admitted  this  unconditionally,  must  also  uncondition- 
ally admit  his  republican  form  of  government.  And 
thus  every  one,  who  adhered  to  his  doctrines,  became 
an  unconditionalist.  As  he,  through  his  whole  sys- 
tem, aimed  at  its  practical  developement,  and  at  a  full 
realization  of  its  propositions,  the  adoption  of  his 
opinions  (this  unconditionality)  was  something. most 
serious  ;  and  it  was  easy  to  perceive,  that  the  uncon- 
ditional adherents  to  Pollen's  doctrines  became  as 
sincere  as  himself  in  acting  up  to  them,  from  the  mo- 
ment that  they  acknowledged  themselves  convinced 
of  their  truth. 

"  Many  wished  the  conversion  of  Follen.  This 
conversion  and  instruction  could  best  be  effected,  it 
was  believed,  by  the  Counsellor  Fries  ;  and,  ere 
long,  the  whole  assembly  gathered  weekly  round  the 


88  LIFE   OP   CHARLES   FOLLEX. 

latter,  and  disputed  warmly  on  the  subject.  As, 
however,  both  Fries  and  Follen  had  their  own  de- 
cided systems,  nothing  was  effected  on  either  side. 
Neither  of  the  two  could  convince  the  other  ;  but" 
their  adherents  all  learned  much  that  was  valuable, 
and  many  became  great  philosophers  with  systems  of 
their  own.  Many  learned  better  to  comprehend  the 
depth  and  acuteness  of  their  old  master  Fries,  and 
loved  him  more  and  more  for  his  modesty  and  humili- 
ty, while  the  unconditionalists  remained  uncondition- 
alists. 

"  But  Fries  was  soon  constrained,  by  household  ca- 
lamities and  reverses,  to  withdraw  from  these  evening 
discussions  ;  and  already,  in  February,  1819,  the 
circle  of  friends,  that  assembled  around  him,  were 
again  left  alone  with  Follen.  And  now  matters  came 
to  extremities.  In  the  first  place,  people  had  learned 
better  how  to  dispute  ;  in  the  second,  they  had  now 
an  authority  on  their  side,  which  was  an  important 
point ;  and,  above  all,  they  had  gained  much  in  clear- 
ness and  decision  of  opinions,  and  knew  better  what 
they  wanted,  and  ought  to  maintain,  and  that  decided 
the  matter.  Since  a  union,  or  even  a  good  under- 
standing, could  no  longer  be  thought  of  by  either  par- 
ty, the  whole  assembly  were  dispersed  in  the  month 
of  March  by  a  most  decisive  rupture.  Three  fol- 
lowed Follen  ;  and  the  rest  went  mostly  their  own 
way."  Page  77. 

"  Follen  was,  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  a  man  of 
tender  feelings,  and  only  so  indescribably  harsh  when 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  89 

he  thought  himself  called  upon  to  oppose  cowardice 
or  effeminacy.  He  was  also  as  quicksighted  as  your- 
self, Major,  to  discover  rich  gifts  and  graces  of  mind  in 
Ferdinand.  Follen  bore,  with  unwearying  patience, 
all  his  eccentricities,  follies,  and  absurdities,  and  tried, 
with  the  most  praiseworthy  perseverance,  to  inspire 
the  wavering  mind  of  the  youth,  (naturally  inclined 
to  content  himself  with  a  superficial  view  of  every 
thing,)  with  a  love  of  knowledge,  truth,  and  virtue  ; 
and  to  endeavour  to  fix  these  feelings  in  his  mind. 
Ferdinand,  who  had  completely  lost  all  credit  by  his 
journey  to  Churhessen,  found  a  defence  in  Follen 
against  the  persecutions  and  contempt  of  his  former 
friends.  And  now  you  should  have  seen,  Major, 
with  what  indulgence  and  affection  this  devil,  Follen, 
protected  and  treated  the  boy.  Every  one  in  the 
circle  made  open  or  covert  reproaches  against  the 
grave  Doctor,  on  account  of  his  favor  towards  the 
youth  ;  and  as  we  were  among  the  number  of  those 
who  spoke  to  Follen  on  this  point,  and  told  him,  that 
he  appeared  to  be  deceived  in  the  character  of  Fer- 
dinand, we  will  repeat  the  answer  which  he  gave  us 
on  the  subject. 

u  Follen  smiled,  and  replied,  '  I  know  all  that  you 
would  say  ;  but  what  will  become  of  him,  if  we  all 
cast  him  off,  and  leave  him  to  his  folly  ?  Only  let 
me  alone.' 

"  Does    this    look   very   devil-like,    Sir   Major  ? 
Ferdinand  showed  his  gratitude  for  this  in  his  own 
way.     Charles  Follen  was  incontestably  the  most  re- 
8* 


90  LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

spected  and  best  cultivated  young  man  then  living  in 
Jena.  It  gratified  the  vanity  of  poor  Ferdinand  to 
occupy  the  same  apartments  with  such  a  man,  and  to 
have  won  his  attention  and  regard.  But  it  was  no 
slight  task  for  him  to  retain  this  precious  happiness. 
As  one  point  towards  it  he  agreed  unreflectingly  to 
all  the  views  of  his  friend  ;  and  close  observers  have 
even  asserted,  that  he  did  so  before  he  knew  what 
they  were.  And  in  the  first  week  of  Follen's  ab- 
sence from  Jena,  Ferdinand  undertook  to  maintain 
some  opinions  which  his  friend  had  expressed,  against 
others,  and  laid  himself  so  thoroughly  open  to  ridi- 
cule, that  Follen  was  obliged  in  future  to  entreat,  that 
he  would  not  again  injure  his  fame  by  such  indis- 
cretion." Page  80. 

"  The  students  of  Jena  retained  not  the  slightest 
benefit  from  all  the  friendly  discussions  which  had  been 
constantly  carried  on  in  the  circle  that  had  gathered 
round  Dr.  Follen.  In  Giessen  he  had  endeavoured  to 
bring  his  moral  views  to  bear  upon  the  lives  of  the 
young  students.  The  result  of  these  endeavours 
proved,  however,  that  the  majority  neither  knew  how 
to  appreciate  nor  to  act  up  to  so  moral  a  standard.  The 
few,  who  thought  that  they  understood  Follen's  views 
and  doctrines,  soon  closed  around  him,  and  separated 
themselves  from  the  mass  of  the  students.  With 
youthful  frankness  they  expressed  their  doctrines  of 
stern  morality,  and  their  contempt  of  every  thing 
coarse  and  unrefined  ;  which  became  so  irksome  to 
the  majority  .of  the  Giessen  students,  that  they  entire- 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  91 

ly  discontinued  all  intercourse  and  communion  with 
Follen  and  his  adherents.  Thrown  back  upon  them- 
selves, this  band  strove  after  a  moral  and  spiritual 
cultivation,  disseminating,  on  all  sides,  the  political 
and  moral  views  of  their  leader.  It  cannot  be  denied, 
that  Follen  exercised  a  control  over  the  minds  of  his 
friends  in  Giessen,  which  was  very  galling  to  many 
among  them.  The  superiority  of  his  mind  and  ac- 
quirements deterred  even  the  stronger  from  adopt- 
ing any  independent  choice  of  opinions,  or  following 
any  original  course  of  feeling.  Besides,  Follen  pos- 
sessed such  a  great  degree  of  acuteness  and  strength 
of  mind,  that  none  of  his  friends  were  able  to  detect 
the  ideal  foundation  of  his  youthful  philosophy  ;  the 
consistency  of  his  life,  and  his  personification  of  the 
standard  that  he  proposed  to  his  adherents,  removed 
from  the  minds  of  most  of  them  all  doubt  as  to  the 
justness  of  his  doctrines  ;  and,  even  where  such 
doubts  were  entertained,  no  one  could  hope  to  shake 
the  fulness  of  conviction,  which,  in  Follen's  mind, 
had  taken  the  place  of  invincible  truth. 

"  In  Jena,  Follen  sought  in  vain  to  overmaster 
the  minds  of  his  new  friends  in  the  same  manner. 
Here  a  great  and  not  unphilosophical  stirring  up 
of  ideas,  both  original  and  peculiar,  had  long  in- 
fluenced the  lives  of  the  youths.  The  utmost  free- 
dom and  latitude  were  exercised  in  the  views  they 
took,  under  the  guidance  of  a  large  number  of  spirit- 
ually-minded and  learned  men  in  all  the  different  pro- 
fessions. The  intimate  footing,  on  which  fhey  stood 


92  LIFE    OF    C  HAUL  US    FOLLEN. 

to  most  of  these  men,  always  kept  alive  in  them  the 
desire  of  testing  their  dogmas  ;  and,  since  each 
teacher  sought,  independently  of  others,  to  make  his 
doctrines  pass  current,  it  followed,  of  course,  that 
each  one  also  found  a  number  of  disciples  who  adopt- 
ed his  opinions  exclusively.  The  consequence  of 
which  was,  that  the  students  kept  up  continual  dispu- 
tations among  themselves  upon  the  superiority  of  the 
views  they  had  respectively  adopted."  Page  83. 

"  Follen  could  not,  therefore,  succeed  in  Jena 
with  his  moral-political  dogmas.  Too  much  had 
been  learned  and  retained  from  the  instruction  of  the 
old  teachers,  to  cast  it  aside  for  that  which  Follen 
proposed  in  its  place.  A  strict  criticism  had  been 
encouraged  and  exercised  on  these  points.  Why, 
therefore,  should  Follen  not  be  criticized  ?  The  se- 
verity, with  which  he  endeavoured  to  force  his  con- 
victions and  opinions  on  all,  maintaining,  that  coward- 
ice and  weakness  alone  prevented  their  being  adopt- 
ed and  applied  as  the  rule  of  life,  gave  rise  to  so 
much  opposition  among  his  friends,  that  it  became 
impossible  for  him  to  exercise  any  influence  on  the 
lives  of  the  students.  Such  spiritual  despotism  was 
unheard  of  in  Jena.  Even  those,  who  could  not  oth- 
erwise refuse  Follen  their  respect,  declared  them- 
selves strongly  against  him.  They  contended,  that 
it  became  no  one,  who  was  not  Christ,  to  maintain 
that  he  had  truth  with  him.  Christ  alone  could  have 
this.  With  him  and  through  him  could  freedom  of 
mind  alone  be  retained.  There  had  been  a  Saviour 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          93 

in  a  moral-religious  sense,  but  no  faith  could  be  ex- 
tended towards  a  moral-political  messiah.* 

"  '  Those  who  knew  Follen,'  said  Ferdinand, 
4  know,  that  this  was  no  mere  figure  of  speech.' 
Follen  was,  however,  not  insane  enough  to  think  him- 
self a  Christ  ;  he  only  maintained  that  every  one 
should,  like  Christ,  strive  after  moral  perfectibility, 
and  be  willing  to  die  for  his  faith.  He  believed  him- 
self to  possess  a  firm  conviction  of  its  truth,  and  the 
power  of  sacrificing  every  thing  to  it.  And  this  feel- 
ing afforded  him  an  excuse  for  pride  and  dignity.  In 
his  presence,  one  felt  one's  self  to  be  but  a  kind  of 
moral  nonentity.  Sand  raised  himself  to  this  moral 
self-confidence  of  Follen,  but  without  possessing  the 
same  noble-rninded  and  spiritual  conceptions.  It 
Follen  ever  fostered  the  hope  of  gaining  an  unlimited 
influence  on  the  lives  of  the  students,  he  must  have 
formed  a  very  erroneous  estimate  of  the  youth  of  his 
own  or  any  time,  and  more  especially  of  those  at  Jena. 
It  does  not,  however,  actually  appear,  that  he  ever 
entertained  such  views. 

"  He  certainly  blamed  the  organization  of  the  col- 
legiate communities  at  Jena,  and  maintained,  that  no 
one  could  be  a  faithful  member  of  these,  who  did  not 
entertain  a  correct  and  earnest  consciousness  of  the 
duties  of  morality,  and  of  the  freedom  and  unity  of 
the  people.  But  he  did  not  deem  it  worth  the 

*  Follen  had  composed  a  very  powerful  ode  on  the  celebration 
of  the  holy  sacrament,  whicji  bore  evidence  of  his  religious  and 
political  creed,  and  opened  with  Jug  fayorjte  idea,  "  A  Christ 
must  thou  become  !  "  &&. 


C4  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

trouble  to  contend  with  those  who  believed,  that  a 
political  training  was  strikingly  at  variance  with  the 
inconsiderateness  of  youth.  Perhaps,  also,  Follen 
thought,  that  he  should  better  attain  his  object  by 
gradually  habituating  others  to  his  views,  and  by  dis- 
seminating them  from  the  desk  and  in  the  circle  of 
his  friends,  than  by  violently  opposing  himself  to  the 
spirit  then  prevalent.  Certain  it  is,  that  he  was  him- 
self aware,  that  much  labor  was  yet  required,  on  his 
part,  before  he  could  raise  even  the  most  cultivated 
and  susceptible  youths  to  the  height  of  his  ideal  views. 
"  It  must  not,  however,  be  denied,  that  Follen 
aroused,  among  all  his  youthful  adherents,  a  greater 
attention  towards  the  efforts  of  a  party  who  had  at- 
tacked and  calumniated  the  whole  youthful  communi- 
ty. Until  then,  these  efforts  had  merely  met  with  a 
kind  of  boyish  ridicule  at  Jena  and  the  other  univer- 
sities. But  Follen  considered  them  to  spring  from  a 
deep-laid  plan.  He  himself  had  taken  up  a  decided 
position  against  these  efforts,  and  hesitated  not  to 
maintain,  that  it  was  due  to  the  better  conviction  men 
had  acceded  to,  to  wage  war,  with  equal  weapons, 
against  those  who  attempted  secretly  to  undermine 
the  erection  of  a  new  and  more  noble  organization  of 
the  people.  As  long  as  writers  alone  expressed  such 
opinions,  there  could  be  no  danger  in  Follen's  views. 
But  as  soon  as  the  public  authorities  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  step  forward,  each  one  took  upon  himself  to 
attack  them  ;  and,  in  proportion  to  the  little  attention 
that  had  hitherto  been  paid  to  the  danger  likely  to 
arise  to  the  government  through  the  schemes  and 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  95 

visionary  dreams  of  the  German  youth  in  the  differ- 
ent universities,  they  now  deemed  themselves  so 
much  the  more  grievously  wronged  and  embittered, 
when  the  extravagances  of  a  few  among  them  were 
made  the  occasion  of  instituting  inquiries  regarding 
the  whole,  and  even  of  proceeding  judicially  against 
them,  which  at  once  put  an  end  to  all  the  discussions 
they  had  learned  to  value. 

"  Pollen's  fate  was,  in  reality,  decided  by  these 
occurrences.  He  himself  perceived  that  he  must 
yield,  but  yet  he  wished  to  fight  out  the  fight.  He 
was  internally  convinced,  that  he  was  fighting  and 
falling  for  '  the  rights  which  are  born  with  us,  the 
holy,  inalienable  rights  of  mankind  '  ;  and,  as  long 
as  he  thought  there  was  any  chance  of  victory,  his 
soul  could  not  admit  the  thought  of  concession  or  de- 
feat. Yet  the  thorn  of  vanity,  ambition,  or  selfish- 
ness, rankled  not  in  his  bosom,  as  so  many  have  be- 
lieved." Page  88. 

"  Follen  was  no  friend  to  mere  metaphor.  His 
words  were  powerful  as  his  whole  being.  When  we 
ourselves  asked  him,  whether  he  thought  he  should 
be  able  to  bring  his  system  into  practice  without  the 
shedding  of  blood,  he  replied,  calmly,  '  No  ;  if  mat- 
ters come  to  the  worst,  all  who  are  wavering  in  their 
opinions  must  be  sacrificed.'  And  when  we  repre- 
sented to  him,  that  this  tyranny  revolted  against  our 
better  feelings,  and  that,  as  Christians  and  men,  we 
could  not  deem  it  justifiable  to  destroy  men,  who 
were  probably  good  and  just,  merely  because  they 
ventured  to  think  differently  from  us,  and  that  we 


96  LIFE   OF  CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

could  not  take  upon  ourselves  to  condemn  the  moral 
standard  which  others  might  propose  to  themselves, 
he  rejoined,  '  This  is  not  a  question  of  feeling,  hut  of 
necessity.  If  thou  art  convinced,  that  that  which 
thou  thinkest  is  truth,  thou  canst  not  regard  the  reali- 
zation of  this  truth  with  indifference,  except  from 
weakness.  The  means  must  not  be  regarded  in  a 
case  of  moral  necessity.' 

"  When  we  observed,  that  he  was  thus  acting 
upon  the  Jesuitical  doctrine,  that  the  end,  or  aim, 
sanctifies  the  means,  he  objected,  '  A  moral  necessity 
is  no  aim,  and  all  means  are  equal  in  respect  to  it.' 

"  Happily  we  did  not  perceive  the  existence  of 
such  a  necessity  ourselves,  and  were  constrained  to 
acknowledge,  that  we  believed  it  to  exist  solely  in  his 
own  imagination. 

"  *  Granted,'  said  he,  '  but  that  is  enough.'  And 
we  felt  this  was  enough  for  us  also.  We  were  pen- 
etrated by  the  force  of  his  self-conviction  and  his 
overmastering  pride.  Strong  minds  have  always 
power  over  the  weaker.  From  that  day  forward  we 
took  a  hearty,  irrepressible  interest  in  Follen  ;  and 
we  esteemed  him  more  and  more,  in  proportion  as 
we  were  ourselves  influenced  by  a  conviction  entirely 
opposed  to  the  one  he  had  arrived  at.  We  remained 
friends  even  after  we  felt  called  upon,  subsequently, 
to  say  to  him,  *  From  henceforward  are  we  against 
thee.' 

"  And  this  you  will,  perhaps,  scarcely  believe,  Sir 
Major  ;  and  yet  it  is  so.  No,  we  never  can  call  that 
man  a  devil,  whose  whole  being  and  thinking  is  pene- 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         97 

trated  by  a  moral  conviction,  which  is  in  perfect 
unity  with  himself,  which  has  become  truth  and  cer- 
tainty to  him,  without  which  he  could  not  be  what  he 
is,  could  not  become  and  remain  good  and  noble. 
No,  a  man  who  will  venture  his  existence,  the  most 
dazzling  prospects,  which  his  talents  justified  him  in 
looking  forward  to,  and  every  enjoyment  of  life,  for 
the  sake  of  this  conviction,  no,  such  a  man  as  this 
can  never  be  termed  a  devil.  He  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  our  friend.  We  may  pity  him,  but  we  can 
never  cease  to  regard  him  with  esteem,  because  he 
has  separated  himself  from  the  general  mass.  Follen 
would  as  willingly  have  attained,  in  a  peaceful  man- 
ner, what  he  deemed  indispensably  necessary  for  his 
country  and  the  people,  if  there  had  been  the  slightest 
chance  of  his  succeeding.  He  was  ready  for  either 
course  ;  but  he  held  himself  prepared  for  war  as  soon 
as  peace  was  broken  ;  and,  although  towards  his 
friends  he  was  open,  honorable,  and  conscientious, 
looking  on  no  sacrifice  or  privation  as  hard  to  under- 
go for  them,  yet  towards  his  enemies  he  was  the  very 
reverse,  as  soon  as  he  thought  himself  called  upon  to 
stand  on  the  defensive.  Never,  however,  did  he  act 
in  defiance  of  lawful  organizations.  He  denied  only 
the  justice  of  police  authority,  which  he  looked  upon 
as  a  misuse  of  power,  an  invasion  of  the  existing 
legal  constitution  and  of  civil  liberty,  and  as  fitted  to 
annul  the  relative  bearing  of  authority  and  duty  be- 
tween a  state  and  its  inhabitants. 

"  Call  this  what  you  will ;  call  it,  in  short,  subtilty, 
and  we  agree  with  your  definition.  Follen  may  ap- 

VOL.  i.  9 


98          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

pear  to  you  to  have  been  too  bold  in  looking  upon 
himself  as  a  belligerent  power.  And  we,  on  our 
part,  will  by  no  means  deny,  that  such  conduct  was 
presumptuous.  Every  one,  who  attempted  to  imi- 
tate Follen  always  appeared  to  me  insignificant  and 
disgusting,  and  more  especially  your  so-called  Tecum. 
In  Follen  all  this  self-confidence  was  consistent,  and 
no  one  as  yet  ever  ventured  to  abuse  him  uncon- 
ditionally for  it,  excepting  your  Tecum  and  his  pe- 
culiar adherents."  Page  96. 

"  A  few  weeks  after  the  late  Ferdinand  retired 
from  public  life  in  Jena,  the  report  of  Sand's  deed 
resounded  through  the  land.  Inquiries  were  imme- 
diately instituted  regarding  Follen,  and  all  with  whom 
Sand  had  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy.  Sand  had  as- 
serted, that  he  had  published  and  disseminated  abroad, 
in  1818,  a  song  composed  by  Follen.  We  have 
never  been  able  to  discover  if  Sand  published  this 
song  with  or  without  the  concurrence  of  the  author  ; 
but  we  know  for  certain,  that,  at  the  period  of  its 
publication,  they  were  not  personally  acquainted. 
Follen  subsequently  expressed  his  disapprobation  of 
the  whole  affair,  terming  it  a  useless  and  inconsider- 
ate trick.  To  the  authorities,  however,  he  denied 
all  claims  of  paternity  as  to  the  production,  and 
thus  the  matter  terminated." 


CHAPTER    VI. 


He  becomes  an  Object  of  Suspicion  to  the  Government.  —  Is 
threatened  with  Imprisonment.  —  Leaves  home.  —  Residence 
in  Strasburg. — Studies  Architecture.  —  Visits  Paris.  —  Orders 
from  the  Government  that  Foreigners  should  quit  France. 

THE  joy  at  the  return  of  Charles  to  his  father's 
house  must  have  been  mingled  with  much  pain.  He 
had  been  subjected  to  repeated  arrests,  and  to  the  most 
annoying  examinations,  in  this  painful  affair  of  Sand  ; 
and,  although  he  had  been  honorably  acquitted,  yet  he 
was  excluded  from  Jena,  where  he  had  left  many 
friends,  and  where  he  was  a  successful  lecturer. 
He  now  stood  an  object  of  suspicion  to  many,  and 
of  the  unrelenting  persecution  of  the  men  in  power. 
Even  some  friends,  as  he  had  once  thought  them, 
turned  away  coldly  from  him,  when  they  saw  that  he 
was  a  supporter  of  a  hopeless  cause,  and,  from  being 
lavish  in  their  expressions  of  devoted  love,  denied  all 
intimacy  with  him,  and  left  him  to  strive  alone,  in  his 
hour  of  trial  and  suffering.  But  this  was  not  the  case 
with  all.  The  friend,  from  whose  little  book  I  have 
made  the  above  extracts,  although  he  did  not  agree 
with  him  in  all  his  opinions,  had  stood  by  him  and 
offered  his  assistance  in  the  hour  of  trial  ;  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  dared  afterwards  to  speak  in  his  favor, 


100         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

even  although  he  had  been  pronounced  a  traitor  to  his 
country  ;  while  his  false  friend  turned  against  him. 
He  was  arrested  at  the  same  time  that  Dr.  Follen 
was,  but  he  was  only  carried  to  Weimar,  and  was 
soon  set  free,  while  his  friend,  Dr.  Follen,  went  on 
his  parole  to  Manheirn.  He  went,  he  tells  me,  to 
meet  him  at  a  town  on  the  road,  to  ascertain  if  there 
were  any  thing  he  could  do  for  him  ;  and  here  they 
met  and  parted  for  the  last  time  in  this  world.  Dr.  Fol- 
len was  soon  made  to  feel  that  there  was  no  repose  for 
him  in  Giessen.  Not  even  his  father's  influence 
could  avail  to  protect  him.  His  father's  love,  his 
father's  roof,  could  no  longer  shelter  him  in  the  hour 
of  danger.  His  youthful  friends,  whose  hearts  he  had 
so  early  moved  with  noble  purposes  in  the  cause  of 
human  freedom,  gathered  round  him  again.  He  was 
indeed  a  proscribed,  a  persecuted  man,  but  all  gener- 
ous spirits  were  only  the  more  closely  bound  to  him 
on  that  account ;  the  stainless  purity  of  his  life,  the 
attraction  of  his  gentle  goodness,  the  beauty  of  his 
holiness,  the  irresistible  force  of  his  calm  and  far- 
seeing  intellect,  his  determined  will,  ready  to  execute 
the  dictates  of  his  reason,  unbiassed  by  any  selfish 
purpose,  and  unchecked  by  any  selfish  fear,  gave  him 
a  great  power.  No  wonder  that  tyrants  feared  him  ; 
they  were  right  ;  he  was  a  dangerous  man.  One  man, 
who  had  been  most  bitterly  opposed  to  him,  said, 
when  he  heard  that  he  had  returned  to  Giessen,  "  Ah, 
the  axe  has  its  handle  again  ;  this  will  not  do."  Some 
one  present  spoke  of  the  unblemished  excellence  of 
Dr.  Follen's  life  and  character  ;  "So  much  the 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  101 

worse,"  said  he  ;  "  I  should  like  him  better  if  he  had 
a  few  vices." 

A  friend  discovered  that  it  was  the  determination 
of  the  government  to   imprison  him.     His  brother 
Augustus   had   been  imprisoned  on   account  of  his 
exertions    in    sending    up    repeated    petitions    to   the 
Grand  Duke,  urging  him  to  fulfil  the  promise  that  he, 
with  the  other  princes,  had  made  at  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  to  give  their  people  a  representative  govern- 
ment.    He  had  been  liberated  ;  but  Dr.  Follen  well 
knew  that  he  should  not  escape  so  well.     He  was 
satisfied  that  his  only  safety  was  in  flight,  and  he  re- 
solved to  leave  Germany.     He  told  his  family  that 
he  was  going  to  Coblentz  (he  did  not  mention  to  them 
that  he  should  never  return),  and  bade  them  farewell 
for  ever.     His  adieus  to  his  father,  whom  he  so  dearly 
loved,  were  the  last  words   he  ever  uttered  to  him  in 
this  world,  and  the  parting  blessings  he  received  from 
him  then  were  the  last  accents  he  ever  heard  of  his 
father's  voice. 

It  was  in  the  winter  of  1819  and  1820  that  Df. 
Follen  left  his  home.  His  mother,  in  speaking  of 
his  departure,  says  to  me,  "  Hearing  from  a  good 
friend  that  he  was  to  be  imprisoned,  to  prevent  this, 
he  left  us  on  the  pretext  of  a  short  journey  to  Co- 
blentz,—  forever,  —  sparing  us  the  anguish  of  such  a 
leave-taking,  and  went  to  Strasburg.  To  that  place 
we  sent  his  clothes,  which  were  all  new  and  good, 
his  letters  of  value,  and  his  manuscript  books,  by  way 
of  the  Rhine.  The  ship  took  fire,  and  every  thing 
was  burnt,  to  our  great  distress,  and  still  more  to  his, 
9* 


102  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

for  his  manuscripts  were  an  irreparable  loss  to  him. 
This  was  the  sad  prelude  to  the  fearful  catastrophe 
which  robbed  us  of  him,  which  withdrew  from  us 
for  ever  his  soul-inspiring  influence." 

Alone,  persecuted,  disappointed,  apparently  for- 
saken, Dr.  Follen  was  not  cast  down  or  disheartened. 
He  found  an  intense  pleasure,  while  he  was  in  Stras- 
burg,  in  making  a  study  of  its  sublime  cathedral.  He 
has  often  told  me,  that  its  influence  upon  his  mind 
was  as  mysterious  as  it  was  soothing.  He  spent  hour 
after  hour  in  looking  at  it,  and  admiring  its  magnifi- 
cence and  beauty  ;  he  visited  it  so  as  to  see  it  in  all 
the  different  lights,  at  sunrise,  at  sunset,  and  by 
moonlight,  and  forgot  himself  and  his  sorrows  in  the 
contemplation  of  this  glorious  display  of  human  genius 
and  human  power  ;  he  loved  to  ascend  to  the  highest 
part  of  the  steeple,  where  few  had  the  steadiness  or 
courage  to  go,  and  to  look  down  upon  the  men  and 
women  below,  who  appeared  like  little  children  from 
the  great  distance.  He  studied  architecture  with  his 
uncle  Muller,  whom  he  met  with  at  this  time,  and 
who  was  employed  by  the  government  to  make  draw- 
ings of  all  the  remains  of  Roman  antiquities  ;  he  ac- 
companied him  when  he  went  to  make  sketches,  and 
he  found  a  great  pleasure  in  this  mode  of  becoming 
initiated  into  the  principles  of  beautiful  proportions, 
and  learning  to  understand  the  mute  but  affecting 
eloquence,  the  sublime  power,  of  architecture. 

Dr.  Follen  made,  during  this  period,  a  visit  to 
Paris,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  Lafayette, 
whom  he  loved  and  venerated.  He  was  often  at 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  103 

La  Grange,  and  was  introduced  by  Lafayette  to 
many  learned  and  interesting  men,  such  as  the  Abbe 
Gregoire,  Benjamin  Constant,  Cousin,  and  others. 
His  false  friend,  Wit,  who  yet  wore  the  mask  of 
truth,  visited  him  this  summer,  and  joined  him  on  his 
return  from  Paris  to  Strasburg.  He  still  found  it 
was  for  his  interest  to  be  able  to  call  Charles  Follen 
his  friend.  In  the  disgraceful  book  he  printed  after- 
wards, as  the  price  of  his  own  security,  he  speaks  of 
this  time,  and  attributes  words  and  expressions  to  his 
patient  friend,  so  absurd,  that  when  Dr.  Follen  read 
them,  he  smiled  very  calmly,  and  said,  "  He  is  a 
fool  ;  "  and  never  thought  of  it  again. 

After  the  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Berri,  an  order 
was  passed  by  the  French  government,  commanding 
all  foreigners  to  quit  France,  who  had  not  some 
specified  business  there,  which  should  meet  with  the 
sanction  of  the  government.  As  Dr.  Follen  had  no 
other  occupation  there  but  the  study  of  the  French 
language  and  literature,  and  the  society  of  some 
great  and  good  men,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the 
country.  He  was  now  again  a  fugitive  ;  and  he  knew 
not  where  to  turn  his  steps.  Just  at  this  time  the 
Countess  of  Benzel  Sternau,  who  knew  his  story,  in- 
vited him  to  come  directly  to  her  country-seat  upon 
the  Lake  of  Zurich,  in  Switzerland.  They  were 
not  personally  acquainted.  She  was  influenced  sole- 
ly by  her  deep  respect  for  his  character.  He  ac- 
cepted her  kindness  simply  on  the  ground  of  his  faith 
in  her  sincerity  and  goodness.  There,  for  a  while, 
surrounded  by  the  lovely  scenery  upon  the  banks  of 


104  £IFB  OF   CHARGES  FOI.LEN. 

the  beautiful  lake  of  Zurich,  in  the  midst  of  the  re- 
fined society  of  this  accomplished  and  noble-minded 
lady  and  her  friends,  he  enjoyed   the   most  delicious 
repose.     He  loved  to  expatiate  upon  the  pleasure  he 
received    in   this  beautiful   spot  ;  and  he  could  not 
speak  of  the  devoted  kindness  of  this  lovely  and  mag- 
nanimous woman  towards  him,  at  a  moment  when  he 
was  homeless  in  his  native  land,  and  was  in  such  need 
of  friendship,  without  the  deepest  emotion.     He  used 
to  speak  to  me  of  the  pleasure  he  took  in  climbing 
up  into  a  very  large  old  willow  tree  in  her  garden,  and 
remaining   there  for  hours   looking   down    upon    the 
lake.     He  loved  her  beautiful  boy,  whom  he  tried 
to   teach  some  gymnastic   exercises.     He  hoped   to 
see  her  again  in  this  world,  and  thank  her  for  her  dis- 
interested, generous  goodness  towards  him,  when  the 
favor    of  the    world,   and    even    of  many    professed 
friends,    had   apparently    deserted    him.      Not    many 
years  since,  he  gave  some  friends,  who  were  going 
to  Zurich,  a  letter  to  this  dear  and  honored  woman. 
She  received  them  as  if  they  were  her  own  friends. 
She  showed  them    his  favorite    tree    in  her  garden, 
which  seemed  to  be  consecrated  by  her  to  his  memo- 
ry, and  sent  him  a  message  of  the  tenderest  love, 
which  was    most   gratefully  welcomed    by   him    and 
those  who  loved  him  in  his  American  home. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


Receives  an  Invitation  from  the  Cantonal  School  of  the  Grisons  in 
Switzerland.  —  Leaves  Chur  for  Basle.  —  Is  appointed  Teach- 
er of  the  Natural,  Civil,  and  Ecclesiastical  Law  at  Basle.  — 
He  goes  to  Paris.  —  Returns  to  Basle.  —  He  is  denounced  by 
the  Holy  Alliance.  —  He  demands  a  Trial  by  the  Laws  of 
Switzerland. — The  Government  of  Basle  refuse  to  deliver 
him  up.  —  An  Order  of  Arrest  is  issued.  —  He  leaves  Basle. 

IN  the  September  of  this  year,  while  he  was  at 
Zurich,  Dr.  Follen  received  an  invitation  to  become 
a  professor  at  the  cantonal  school  of  the  Grisons  in 
Switzerland,  which  he  determined  to  accept.  The 
kind  friend,  who  had  given  him  such  a  blessed  asy- 
lum, urged  him  to  make  her  house  his  permanent 
home  ;  but  he  could  not  submit  to  any  approach  to 
a  state  of  dependence,  even  upon  her  ;  and,  with  a 
grateful  and  sorrowful  heart,  he  bade  her  farewell 
for  ever. 

In  his  own  handwriting  I  find  the  following  transla- 
tion of  the  letter  of  invitation  which  he  received  from 
Chur,  and  an  account  of  the  causes  which  led  him 
to  resign  his  place  there,  after  a  residence  of  less 
than  a  year. 


106  LIFE  OF    CHARLES   POLLEN. 

"  The  Evangelical  Council  of  Education  of  the  Can- 
ton of  the  Grisons,  to  Professor  Follen. 
"  Sir,  — The  Evangelical  Council  of  Education  of 
the  Canton  will  lose,  in  a  few  days,  one  of  its  ablest 
and  most  faithful  teachers,  Mr.  Herbert.  He  him- 
self proposed  you  for  his  temporary  successor.  With- 
out this  proposal,  and  his  assurance  of  your  con- 
sent, we  should  hardly  have  ventured  to  apply  to 
you,  who  had  already  established  a  chair  in  higher 
schools,  to  fill  this  place  until  either  Mr.  Herbert 
shall  have  it  in  his  power  to  return,  to  our  school,  or, 
if  you  could  not  resolve  to  replace  him  entirely,  in 
case  he  should  not  return,  to  remain,  at  least  till 
another  able  successor  may  be  found,  in  which  case, 
however,  you  will  enter  upon  the  same  salary  of  one 
thousand  florins,  which  he  has  hitherto  received. 

"  Should  you  be  inclined,  Sir,  to  devote  your 
time  and  your  learning  to  our  Rhetian  youth,  you  are 
hereby  most  kindly  invited  to  do  so.  That  which 
the  more  enlightened  Germans  are  yet  striving  to  at- 
tain, a  free  constitution  and  unbounded  liberty  for  the 
developement  of  the  mind,  you  will  find  among  us  in 
a  higher  degree,  perhaps,  than  even  the  German  him- 
self might  find  desirable  for  his  native  country  ;  and 
it  would  be  superfluous  to  observe  to  you,  that  the 
democratical  young  Swiss  needs,  in  regard  to  his  fu- 
ture relation  to  the  commonwealth,  a  guidance  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  young  German,  who  is  to  be 
brought  up  for  monarchical  institutions. 

"  You  will  also  find  the  wish  of  the  Council  not 
improper,  that  you  should  abstain,  during  your  ap- 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  107 

pointment  at  our  school,  from  any  other  political  con- 
nexion. Please  to  recognise,  in  this  call  of  the 
Council,  the  feelings  of  true  esteem  and  affection  it 
bears  towards  you. 

"  The  President, 
"  J.  W.  SPRECHER  BERNEGG. 
"  In  the  name  of  the  Council  of  Education, 

"  The  Secretary, 

"  FLORIAN  WETT. 
11  Chur,  15th  September,  1820." 

In  his  lectures  on  history,  to  the  higher  classes 
of  the  college,  in  explaining  the  gradual  propagation 
of  Christianity,  Dr.  Follen  endeavoured  to  trace  the 
great  revolutions  effected  by  the  doctrines  of  Christ, 
particularly  to  the  two  great  principles,  that  there  is 
but  one  spiritual  God,  and  that  all  men  ought  to  love 
one  another  as  brothers,  and  strive  after  godlike  per- 
fection. These  principles,  so  far  as  they  were  con- 
sistently practised  upon,  must  have  led  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  basis  of  all  heathenish  institutions,  idolatry, 
and  unnatural  distinctions  among  men.  He  repre- 
sented Jesus  as  inspired,  and  commissioned  by  God 
to  guide  men  to  infinite  perfection  and  eternal  hap- 
piness, without  entering  at  all  into  controversial  the- 
ology, as  being  foreign  to  his  purpose  of  explaining 
the  historical  consequences  of  the  Gospel.  The 
'warmth,  with  which  this  simple  doctrine  was  received 
by  the  young  men,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  gloomy 
and  perplexed  religious  ideas,  roused  the  fanatic  zeal 
of  some  highly  Calvinistic  ministers,  who  spread  an 


108          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

alarm  through  the  canton,  that  Dr.  Follen  had  de- 
nied the  Godhead  of  Christ  Jesus,  the  doctrines  of 
original  sin  and  the  absolute  moral  depravity  of  man. 
Dr.  Follen  refused  the  offer  of  one  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished theologians  of  Switzerland  publicly  to  de- 
fend his  doctrine,  and  tried,  by  private  explanation,  to 
appease  the  zealots.  But,  when  he  saw  that  all  his 
endeavours  proved  insufficient  to  guard  the  cantonal 
school  against  sinister  aspersions,  he  asked  of  the 
evangelical  synod  of  the  canton  an  audience  at  their 
next  meeting,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  the  prin- 
ciples he  had  advanced  as  founded  on  Scripture.  The 
audience  was  granted,  and  the  accusers  were  asked  to 
come  forward  with  their  charges.  But  the  synod,  as 
soon  as  they  had  despatched  their  most  urgent  affairs, 
and  the  moderator  asked  them  to  attend  to  Dr.  Pollen's 
controversy,  dissolved  the  meeting  with  inordinate 
haste.  Dr.  Follen  then  requested  the  moderator, 
who  was  generally  considered  as  being  at  the  head 
of  the  Calvinistic  clergy,  to  certify,  by  an  authentic 
document,  the  fact  of  Dr.  Follen's  application  to  the 
synod  for  an  audience,  and  of  its  sudden  dissolution, 
when  they  were  called  upon  to  attend  to  this  matter. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  this  document. 

"  Dr.  Follen,  of  Giessen,  in  Darmstadt,  late  pro- 
fessor of  the  Latin  language  and  of  universal  histo- 
tory  at  the  evangelical  college  of  this  canton,  has,  by 
his  luminous  lectures  and  kind  treatment  of  the  pupils, 
acquired  their  respect,  attachment,  and  confidence,  in 
a  high  degree.  Accused  of  some  heretical  doctrines, 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  109 

which  he  was  said  to  have  expressed  in  his  lectures, 
he  requested  of  me,  the  undersigned  Moderator  of  the 
Evangelical  Synod  of  this  year,  an  audience  before 
this  assembly,  for  the  purpose  of  justifying  himself. 
This  request  was  granted  to  him,  but  its  fulfilment 
was  prevented  by  the  accelerated  rising  of  the  synod- 
al assembly,  and  by  no  other  cause.  This  I  certify, 
upon  his  demand,  by  signing  it  with  my  own  hand,  and 
adding  the  seal  of  the  Evangelical  Church  Council 
of  the  Canton  of  the  Grisons. 
"  Chur,  June  SQth,  1821. 

"D.  S.  BENEDICT, 

"  Moderator  of  the  Evangelical  Synod  of  the  Can- 
ton of  the  Grisons  for  the  present  year,  and 
President  of  the  Evangelical  Church  Coun- 
cil, &c.,  of  Chur." 

Before  the  rising  of  the  synodal  assembly  took 
place,  Dr.  Follen  had  offered  to  the  Council  of  Edu- 
cation, to  state  to  them,  openly  and  precisely,  his 
whole  opinion  concerning  the  abovementioned  prin- 
ciples, as  well  as  all  he  had  taught  about  them  in  the 
school.  He  then  desired  them  to  order  an  open 
inquiry  to  be  held  among  his  pupils.  But  he,  on 
the  other  hand,  asked  them  to  reverse  those  secret 
proceedings  and  inquiries,  which  had  been  instituted 
among  his  pupils  by  the  directors  of  the  school. 
The  council  declared  themselves  willing  to  abide  by 
the  statement  of  Dr.  Follen,  without  any  inquiry 
among  the  scholars  ;  but  they  refused  to  reverse  the 
proceeding  of  the  directors.  Dr.  Folleu  then  asked 
of  the  Council  of  Education  his  dismission  from  th,e 
VOL.  i.  10 


110  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

school,  which  he  received,  with  the  following  letter 
from  its  President. 

"The  President  of  the  Evangelical  Council  of  Edu- 
cation, of  the  Canton  of  the  Orisons,  to  Profes- 
sor Charles  Follen  : 
"  Sir, 

"I  understand  that  you  will  soon  leave  this  place. 
Though  your  employment  in  our  institution  was  but 
provisory,  and  (as  you  yourself  asked  your  dismis- 
sion) not  of  so  long  duration  as  we  should  have 
wished,  I  feel  bound  to  express  to  you,  before  your 
departure,  the  thanks  of  the  Council  of  Education, 
for  the  zeal  and  diligence  with  which  you  have  in- 
structed our  youth  during  your  incumbency.  The 
last  examination  gave  us  the  most  satisfactory  proofs 
of  your  eminent  talents  as  a  teacher,  of  your  thorough 
knowledge  and  learning  in  all  the  branches  which  are 
usually  studied  in  a  college,  and  of  your  well  medi- 
tated method  of  teaching.  Thus  we  can  only  con- 
gratulate the  university  that  shall  possess  you  for  the 
future,  as  a  teacher  ;  and,  besides,  the  love  and  at- 
tachment of  your  scholars,  which  you  have  succeed- 
ed in  acquiring  in  so  short  a  time,  must  be  to  you  a 
sweet  reward  for  the  pains  you  have  taken  with  them. 

"  Wishing  you,  with  all  my  heart,  a  situation  adapt- 
ed to  your  learning  and  talents,  and  secured  against 
the  storms  of  life,  I  beg  you  to  receive,  together 
with  these  feelings,  the  assurance  of  my  true  respect. 

"  J.  W.  SPRECHER  BERNEGG, 
"  President  of  the  Council  of  Education. 
"  Chur,  July  nth,  1821." 


LIFE    OP   CHARLES    POLLEN.  HI 

Some  of  the  young  men  whom  Dr.  Follen  had 
taught  at  Chur,  and  who  had  shown  a  great  interest  in 
his  instructions,  as  well  as  a  strong  personal  regard 
for  him,  sent  him,  as  a  testimonial  of  their  respect  and 
love,  John  von  Miiller's  History  of  Switzerland, 
with  these  words  written  in  the  first  page,  and  their 
names  subscribed. 

"  To  their  dearly  beloved  teacher,  Charles  Follen. 
A  token  of  remembrance,  from  the  Senior  Class  of 
the  Cantonal  School  of  Rhsetia,  who   remember  his 
instructions  with  great  delight. 
[Signed,] 

"  BATTAGLIA,        MARX, 
BROFY,  MICHEL, 

CAVINZAL,          FENNER, 
HEINRICH,         WALTHER. 
HERMANN, 
"  Chur,  1821." 

During  Dr.  Follen's  residence  in  Chur,  a  demand 
was  made  by  the  Congress  of  Troppau,  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Canton  would  give  him  up  to  them, 
to  be  tried  by  the  laws  they  had  made  against  all  per- 
sons engaged  in  revolutionary  movements.  In  this 
council  the  Emperors  of  Austria  and  Russia,  and  the 
King  of  Prussia,  announced  the  principle  of  armed 
intervention,  and  a  determined  and  open  hostility  to- 
wards any  constitution  which  deviated  from  a  true 
monarchy.  This  was  the  first  of  the  demands  of  the 
allied  sovereigns  against  Dr.  Follen's  liberty.  It  is 
a  singular  fact  that  those  powerful  monarchs  should 


112  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

have  thought  their  power  endangered  by  a  simple 
lecturer  in  an  obscure  nook  of  the  world,  who  was 
engaged  in  teaching  the  true  principles  of  liberty,  as 
he  found  them  laid  down  in  the  words  of  Jesus ;  it 
seems  strange,  that  these  mighty  men  should  have 
been  so  alarmed  as  to  think  it  necessary  for  their  own 
safety',  to  crush  this  still,  small  voice,  which  the  young 
mountaineers  were  listening  to  with  such  a  heartfelt 
eagerness.  It  is  to  the  glory,  the  true  honor,  of  this 
small,  but  noble  spirited  government,  that  they 
promptly  refused  the  demand. 

But  while,  throughout  Germany,  the  Allied  Sov- 
ereigns were  endeavouring  to  suppress  every  germ  of 
freedom,  and  particularly  to  convert  the  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning  into  nurseries  of  despotism,  a  new 
light  of  hope  for  the  depressed  liberty  of  mind  seemed 
to  shine  in  Switzerland. 

The  university  of  Basle,  so  celebrated  in  the  time 
of  the  great  church  reformation  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, but  afterwards  fallen  to  decay,  had  been  newly 
organized  in  1817,  by  the  government  of  that  repub- 
lic. Several  professorships,  which,  till  that  time,  had 
been  only  sinecures,  were  then  provided  with  learned 
men  from  Germany,  who  were  obliged  to  leave  their 
country  for  political  opinions.  Soon  after  it  was 
known  that  Dr.  Follen  was  going  to  leave  Chur,  he 
was  appointed  as  a  public  lecturer  at  the  university 
of  Basle,  where  he  taught  the  natural,  the  civil,  and 
the  ecclesiastical  law,  besides  some  branches  of  meta- 
physics, viz.  logic,  and  the  philosophy  of  the  mind, 
in  its  application  to  religion,  morals,  legislation,  and 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  113 

the  fine  arts.  He  edited,  together  with  Dr.  De  Wette 
and  some  other  professors  of  the  university,  the  lit- 
erary journal  (Wissenschaftliche  Zeitschrift)  of  the 
university  of  Basle  ;  which  contains  two  treatises  of 
his,  "  on  the  Destiny  of  Man,"  and  "  on  the  Doctrine 
of  Spinoza,"  particularly  in  regard  to  law  and  morals. 

Dr.  Follen's  residence  in  Basle  was  a  very  happy 
period  of  his  life.  He  had  a  fine  set  of  young  men 
to  instruct,  and  found  great  pleasure  in  the  occupa- 
tion ;  he  has  often  said  to  me,  "  I  am  sure  that  I  did 
something  towards  awaking,  in  their  young  minds, 
principles  and  purposes  that  would  never  sleep  again 
till  they  had  brought  forth  the  glorious  fruit  of  Chris- 
tian freedom."  He  was  surrounded  by  near  and  dear 
friends.  There  was  De  Wette,  as  gentle  and  kind 
as  he  was  learned  and  wise  ;  his  step-son,  Dr.  Beck, 
who  afterwards  came  with  him  to  America ;  Dr. 
Yung  and  his  excellent  lady  ;  these  and  many  other 
devoted  and  dearly  beloved  friends  made  life  happy 
to  him. 

Another  dear  hope  dawned  upon  his  existence  at 
this  time  ;  he  became  attached  to  a  young  lady,  the 
sister  of  a  very  dear  friend,  and,  in  the  autumn  of 
1S23,  they  were  engaged  to  be  married.  These 
were  beautiful  days  ;  life  was  full  of  promise  to  him ; 
he  did  not  forget  his  first  love,  he  did  not  relinquish 
his  hope,  or  slacken  his  efforts  for  the  cause,  of  Chris- 
tian freedom  ;  he  never  could  but  with  life.  Freedom, 
in  its  highest  and  noblest  sense,  was  the  light  and  life 
of  his  being.  In  his  direct  instructions  upon  the 
natural  and  indefeasible  rights  of  every  human  being, 
10* 


114  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

in  his  own  practical  regard  for  the  rights  of  all,  in  his 
pure  life,  free  from  the  bondage  of  sin  and  selfishness, 
he  was  ever  proclaiming  the  gospel  of  freedom. 
While  the  friends  of  liberty  rejoiced,  tyrants  were 
alarmed,  when  they  heard  that  in  Switzerland,  the 
only  free  state  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  this 
new  temple  of  freedom  was  erected.  Already  some 
young  men  from  Prussia  had  come  to  study  at  Basle, 
when  the  Prussian  government  issued  a  prohibition 
against  its  subjects  visiting  that  university.  But  this 
seemed  not  yet  to  satisfy  the  Holy  Alliance.  They 
took  advantage  of  the  political  debility  of  Switzerland, 
caused  by  her  own  governments,  to  deprive  the  grow- 
ing university  of  some  of  its  most  liberal  teachers, 
intimidating  the  others,  as  well  as  the  government 
itself.  Dr.  Follen  was,  of  course,  a  marked  man  ; 
he  was  advised  to  leave  Basle,  and,  in  consequence  of 
the  entreaties  of  his  friends,  he  went,  for  a  few  days, 
to  Baden,  where  he  remained  in  concealment.  In 
the  spring  of  1824  he  went  to  Paris.  Here  La- 
fayette, with  whom  he  passed  much  of  his  time, 
introduced  him  to  the  American  Minister,  Mr. 
Brown,  and  urged  him  to  accompany  him  to  Amer- 
ica ;  but  he  refused,  on  the  ground  that  leaving  Basle 
without  being  forced  to  do  so,  would  be  taken  as  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  right  of  his  persecutors  to 
remove  him.  Upon  his  return  from  Paris  he  stopped 
awhile  in  the  vicinity  of  Zurich  ;  here  his  eldest 
brother,  who  was  then  married,  visited  him,  and 
here  they  must  have  met  for  the  last  time.  Some 
friends  from  Basle  also  visited  him ;  they  all  felt  as- 


LIFE  OP  CHAKLES  FOLLEN.         115 

sured  that  he  could  not  remain  there  in  safety,  but 
Dr.  Follen  determined  upon  returning  to  his  du- 
ties in  the  university.  On  the  27th  of  August, 
1824,  the  government  of  Basle  received  three  notes 
from  the  governments  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Rus- 
sia, which  demanded  that  Dr.  Follen  and  Dr.  S , 

Professors  of  law  at  Basle,  should  be  given  up  to  the 
tribunal  of  inquisition,  which  the  King  of  Prussia  had 
established  at  Kaepnick,  near  Berlin.  They  were 
accused,  in  these  notes,  of  being  the  chief  movers  in 
a  grand  conspiracy,  tending  to  subvert  the  monarchi- 
cal state  of  Germany,  for  which  purpose  they  still 
abused  the  neutrality  of  Switzerland,  in  which  they 
had  taken  refuge.  These  three  notes  were  sup- 
ported by  two  others  from  the  German  governments 
of  Hesse-Darmstadt  and  Nassau,  demanding  like- 
wise that  the  two  professors,  being  their  born  sub- 
jects, should  be  delivered  up  to  the  common  tribunal 
of  inquisition  at  Kaepnick. 

The  government  of  Berne,  at  that  time  the  directo- 
rial Canton  of  Switzerland,  joined  to  these  five  notes 
an  urgent  request  that  the  government  of  Basle 
would  not,  for  the  sake  of  individuals,  hazard  the 
welfare  of  the  country.  The  government  of  Basle 
summoned  the  two  professors  to  give  an  explanation 
of  these  accusations.  Dr.  Follen  declared,  "that  all 
these  political  accusations  were  as  unfounded  as 
vague."  He  maintained  that  he  himself  was  not 
bound  to  appear  before  the  tribunal  of  Kaepnick,  and 
that  Switzerland,  and  particularly  the  government  of 
Basle,  was  neither  obliged  nor  entitled  to  deliver  him 
up  to  the  foreign  powers. 


116  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

With  regard  to  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia,  he 
never  was  under  any  obligation  to  them  ;  and  the  ob- 
ligations, which,  as  a  native  of  Hesse,  he  had  to  that 
country,  had  ceased  ;  for,  after  having  acquitted  him- 
self of  his  military  duty,  as  a  volunteer,  during  the 
war  of  1813  and  1814,  he  had  emigrated  from  thence, 
and  become  a  member  of  another  state.  He  was  ap- 
pointed professor  at  the  Cantonal  School  of  the  Can- 
ton of  Orisons  in  1820,  and  afterwards  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Basle.  The  public  authorities  of  both 
Cantons  would  testify  that  he  had  always  conscien- 
tiously discharged  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  that 
his  private  life  was  irreproachable.  >?.? 

Being  now  a  member  of  the  Canton  of  Basle,  and 
of  Switzerland  at  large,  if  he  had  committed  an  of- 
fence, he  had  an  incontestable  right  to  be  judged  by 
no  other  laws,  and  no  other  tribunals,  than  those 
of  the  state  to  which  he  belonged.  Nevertheless, 
he  was  now  demanded  by  foreign  governments, 
which  had  no  authority  over  him,  to  be  given  up 
to  a  tribunal  of  political  inquisition,  which,  by  the 
Prussian  law,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  King's  abso- 
lute will,  was  free  from  every  legal  tie.  Could  there 
be  any  doubts  that  these  attempts  against  his  lib- 
erty were  really  attempts  against  the  liberty  of  Swit- 
zerland herself  ?  A  state  which  would  permit  that 
one  of  its  subjects  should  be  judged  by  the  laws  and 
tribunals  of  another  state,  would  resign  its  own  sover- 
eignty and  political  existence.  Particular  compacts, 
by  which  alone  a  commonwealth  can  be  bound  to 
deliver  up  its  inhabitants,  did  not  exist  between  Swit- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  117 

zerland  and  the  five  abovementioned  powers.  There- 
fore Switzerland  could  not  give  him  up  without  vio- 
lating her  national  honor,  her  independence,  and  her 
duties  towards  one  of  her  members. 

If  the  foreign  governments  really  believed  that  he 
had  abused  the  neutrality  of  Switzerland,  to  disturb 
the  peace  of  their  states,  they  were  bound  to  send  in 
their  accusations,  with  a  distinct  description  of  the 
alleged  offences,  and  with  all  the  necessary  proofs. 
The  accusations  they  had   now  sent,  vague  and  un- 
founded as  they  were,  were  not  fit  to  be  submitted  to 
the  serious  examination  of  a  court.     They  deserved 
the  less  credit,  as  the  irregularity  in  tbe  administration 
of  these  governments  was  so  great,  that  some  years 
ago  they  had  called  upon  the  Cantons  of  Switzerland 
to  deliver  up  or  to  banish  an  individual,  whom  one  of 
these  governments,  some  time  before,  had   intrusted 
with   a  public  office  in  its  own  dominions,  where  he 
then  and  afterwards  quietly  lived,  discharging  the  du- 
ties of  his  office.     Before  the  independent  court  of 
the  independent  state  to  which  he  belonged,  his   ac- 
cusers ought  to  be  considered  but  as  private  persons. 
Therefore  the  government  of  Basle,  whose  protec- 
tion he  chiefly  and  entirely  relied  on,  might  summon 
them  to  send  in  their  complaints  against  him,  with  the 
requisite  charges,  to  be  investigated  by  the  competent 
tribunal  of  the  Canton.      He  the  more  hoped  that 
this  request  would  be  granted,  as  the  Canton  of  the 
Orisons  had  rejected  similar  demands  and  accusations 
which  were  brought  against  him   by  the  Congress  of 
Troppau,  when  he  was  a  teacher  at  Chur.    Dr.  S 


118  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

made  similar  declarations.  The  citizens  of  Basle, 
and  all  true  Swiss,  perceived  that  in  this  case  not  only 
two  persons,  but  the  honor  and  independence  of  their 
country  were  at  stake.  The  government  of  Basle, 
convinced  of  the  justice  of  the  above  declarations, 
and  encouraged  by  the  public  opinion,  refused  the 
demand  of  the  foreign  governments,  and  required  them 
to  communicate  charges,  that  the  case  might  be  inves- 
tigated and  decided  by  the  courts  of  the  Canton. 

But,  soon  after,  three  new  notes  arrived  from  the 
Ambassadors  of  Prussia,  Austria,  and  Russia.  They 
pretended,  "  that  the  good  understanding,  which  sub- 
sisted between  Switzerland  and  the  three  great  powers, 
required  her  to  believe  them  at  their  word.  That 
Basle  would  destroy  this  good  understanding,  if  it 
should  delay  to  deliver  the  demanded  persons,  by  in- 
sisting upon  the  communication  of  charges."  These 
new  demands  were  aided  by  urgent  letters  from  the 
three  most  important  Swiss  governments  of  Berne, 
Zurich,  and  Lucerne. 

The  united  endeavours  of  the  external  and  internal 
enemies  of  liberty  broke,  at  last,  the  spirit  of  the 
government  of  Basle  ;  though,  according  to  the  con- 
stitution of  Switzerland,  not  even  the  whole  con- 
federation had  a  right  to  compel  it  to  yield  to  the 
foreign  demands.  The  government  resolved  to  re- 
sign their  right  of  judging  this  case ;  and,  as  they 

were  told  that  the  delivering  of  Dr.  S was  not  so 

much  urged  as  that  of  Dr.  Follen,  (whose  lectures  on 
natural  law  had  probably  rendered  him  more  obnox- 
ious to  the  Holy  Alliance,)  they  tried,  by  giving  up 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  119 

the  latter,  to  save  the  former,  who,  as  the  father  of 
a  large  family,  seemed  to  have  a  stronger  claim  to 
their  protection. 

Dr.  Follen  was  advised  to  depart.  He  refused 
to  go,  and  insisted  upon  a  legal  trial.  The  govern- 
ment thereupon  compelled  him  to  quit  the  Canton,  by 
passing  a  resolution  to  arrest  him.  He  then  left  the 
city,  thankful  for  the  patriotic  interest  which  many 
citizens  had  displayed  in  his  cause.  To  the  govern- 
ment he  sent  the  following  declaration. 

"  Whereas  the  Republic  of  Switzerland,  which 
has  protected  so  many  fugitive  princes,  noblemen, 
and  priests,  would  not  protect  him,  who,  like  them, 
is  a  republican,  he  is  compelled  to  take  refuge 
in  the  great  asylum  of  liberty,  the  United  States  of 
America.  His  false  accusers  he  summons  before 
the  tribunal  of  God  and  public  opinion.  Laws  he 
has  never  violated.  But  the  heinous  crime  of  having 
loved  his  country  has  rendered  him  guilty  to  such  a 
degree,  that  he  feels  quite  unworthy  to  be  pardoned 
by  the  Holy  Alliance." 

Dr.  Follen  asked  of  the  university  a  public  testi- 
mony of  his  conduct,  which  was  granted  ;  though  he 
did  not  receive  it  till  after  his  arrival  in  this  country. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  this  document. 

"  The  highly  honored  and  learned  Doctor  of  the 
Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  law,  Charles  Follen,  has  dis- 
charged, during  a  term  of  three  years,  his  duty  as  a 


120  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

public  teacher  of  metaphysics  and  jurisprudence  in 
our  university  of  Basle  with  great  diligence.  He  has, 
accordingly,  not  only  conciliated  to  himself  great  es- 
teem from  his  colleagues,  but  has  also  deserved  well 
of  the  students.  He  always,  like  a  good  man  and 
citizen,  has  manifested  a  friendly  disposition  towards 
his  fellow  teachers,  and  shown  becoming  respect  to 
the  magistrates  of  the  republic  and  the  government 
of  this  university,  and  has  rendered  his  disciples 
obliged  and  attached  to  him  in  the  highest  degree. 
This,  at  his  request,  is  hereby  testified  by  the  pro- 
fessor of  every  faculty  of  the  university  of  Basle,  and 
confirmed,  at  their  order,  with  the  university  seal,  by 

The  Rector, 

"  JOHN  RUDOLPH  BURCKHARDT. 
Basle,  26th  October,  1824."  * 

*  This  statement  of  the  causes  of  Dr.  Follen's  leaving  Basle  was 
written  by  himself. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


His  Flight  from  Basle.  —  He  goes  to  Paris.  —  Leaves  Paris  for 
Havre.  —  Sails  in  the  Cadmus  for  America.  —  Extracts  from 
his  Journal.  —  He  arrives  in  New  York.  —  Writes  to  La- 
fayette. —  Goes  to  Philadelphia.  —  Prepares  a  Course  of  Lec- 
tures. —  Is  invited  to  teach  the  German  Language  in  Harvard 
College. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  in  Basle,  that  an  order 
of  arrest  had  been  actually  issued  against  Dr.  Follen, 
and  that  nothing  but  flight  could  save  him  from  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  every  means  of 
escape  was  offered  him,  not  only  by  his  friends,  but 
by  those  who  were  comparatively  strangers  to  him. 
A  friend  took  him  out  of  the  city,  secreted  under 
the  boot  of  his  chaise  ;  and  a  young  man,  whose  per- 
sonal appearance  resembled  his,  offered  him  his  pass- 
port. This  act  of  kindness  was  the  more  affecting 
to  Dr.  Follen,  as  his  benefactor  was  but  slightly 
acquainted  with  him  ;  and  exposed  himself  to  the 
very  heavy  penalties  of  the  law,  in  case  this  benevo- 
lent offence  were  discovered,  solely  from  respect  for 
his  character  and  conduct. 

Dr.  Follen  took  a  seat  in  the  mail  coach  for  Paris, 
as  this  was  not  only  the  shortest,  but  the  least  sus- 
picious mode  of  travelling.  He  left  Basle  on  the  27th 

VOL.  i.  11 


122  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

of  October,  and  arrived  in  Paris  on  the  30th.  There 
he  found  his  friend,  Dr.  Beck,  who  had  left  Basle  a 
few  days  before,  and  who,  as  he  fully  anticipated  the 
result  of  the  persecutions  of  Dr.  Follen,  which  had 
actually  taken  place,  was  daily  expecting  his  arrival. 
Dr.  Beck  was  convinced,  that  none  of  those,  who  were 
known  to  hold  liberal  opinions,  would  stand  any  chance 
of  success  in  Germany,  and  that  even  Switzerland  was 
no  longer  a  safe  asylum  for  the  friends  of  freedom  ; 
and,  as  he  was  known  to  be  of  that  party,  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  a  place  of  refuge  in  this  country. 

In  Paris,  Dr.  Follen  saw,  once  more,  the  lady  to 
whom  he  was  engaged.  He  took  leave  of  her 
with  the  cheering  hope,  that,  as  soon  as  he  had 
found  some  adequate  means  of  support  that  would 
authorize  such  a  step,  he  should  return  to  bring  her, 
as  his  wife,  to  his  American  home.  He  and  Dr. 
Beck  proceeded  immediately  to  Havre.  They  were 
obliged,  on  account  of  some  delay  about  the  carriage, 
to  stop  a  short  time  at  Rouen.  Notwithstanding  that 
he  was  flying  for  his  life,  Dr.  Follen  improved  this 
delay  in  examining  all  that  was  interesting  to  him  in 
this  ancient  city.  He  made  many  particular  inquiries 
about  Joan  of  Arc.  He  satisfied  himself,  that  his 
impressions  were  just,  of  the  purity  and  excellence 
of  the  character  of  this  much  injured  woman.  Among 
other  facts  relating  to  her,  which  were  new  to  him, 
he  learned  that  she  possessed  extraordinary  business 
talents.  He  speaks,  in  his  journal,  of  the  glorious 
view  of  the  city  from  the  neighbouring  hill.  Thus, 
as  he  fled  from  the  old  world  that  discarded  him,  did 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         123 

be  turn  once  more  to  render  homage  to  the  natural 
and  moral  beauty  it  exhibited.  Surely  this  was  from 
him  an  appropriate  farewell. 

They  arrived  at  Havre  on  the  1st  of  November, 
and  immediately  engaged  their  passage  in  the  Cad- 
mus ;  the  same  vessel,  in  which  Lafayette,  a  few 
months  before,  had  urged  Dr.  Follen  to  accompany 
him  to  America. 

Dr.  Follen  stated  frankly  to  Captain  Allen  his 
whole  case,  and  told  him  that  it  was  possible,  that  his 
pursuers  might  overtake  him,  and  make  him  a  prison- 
er, even  when  he  was  in  the  ship.  The  Captain 
promptly  replied,  that  if  he  would  give  himself  up  to 
him,  he  would  put  him  where  no  gens  d'armes  could 
touch  him.  He  never  spoke  of  the  ready,  generous 
confidence  of  Captain  Allen  without  grateful  emotion. 
The  Cadmus  was  ready  for  sea,  and  was  to  sail  the 
next  day  ;  but  the  wind  was  contrary,  and  continued 
so  till  the  5th.  These  were  anxious  days  to  the 
poor  exiles,  most  especially  to  Dr.  Follen.  He  has 
often  spoken  to  me  of  his  sufferings  during  these  four 
days.  Until  then  he  had  scarcely  felt  fear,  ^he 
rapid  travelling,  and  necessary  arrangements  for  his 
departure,  had  left  him  but  little  time  for  thought  ; 
but,  now  that  he  had  not  the  necessity  of  action,  he 
experienced  a  keen  sense  of  the  danger  that  hung 
over  him.  He  had  been  told,  that  it  was  intended 
to  make  an  example  of  him,  in  order  to  deter  other 
young  men  from  following  in  his  steps  ;  and  he  was 
convinced,  that  an  ignominious  death,  or  imprison- 
ment for  life,  awaited  him  if  he  should  be  arrested. 


124  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

At  last,  on  the  5th,  the  wind  was  fair,  and  the 
Cadmus  ready  for  sailing.  They  waited  only  for  the 
officer  to  come  on  board,  and  return  them  their  pass- 
ports. The  Captain  showed  Dr.  Follen  where  he 
could  effectually  secrete  himself.  Fear  had  hung 
heavily  upon  his  spirits  for  four  days.  For  a  mo- 
ment he  hesitated.  But  so  great  was  his  repugnance 
to  hiding  himself,  like  a  culprit,  that  he  resolved  to 
remain  on  deck  with  the  other  passengers,  and  meet 
his  fate. 

When  the  officer  came  on  board,  he  immediately 
returned  his  passport  to  every  one  but  Dr.  Fol- 
len, who  noticed  that  he  cast  a  disagreeable,  scruti- 
nizing look  at  him,  which  made  him  half  repent  his 
rejection  of  the  Captain's  offer.  He,  however,  im- 
mediately approached  the  officer,  and  demanded  his 
passport,  which,  after  another  scrutinizing  survey, 
was  returned  to  him. 

His  joy  at  his  escape  from  personal  danger,  with 
the  excitement  at  being  for  the  first  time  upon  the 
ocean,  aided  him  greatly  to  bear  the  deep  sadness  of 
heart,  which  he  felt  at  quitting  for  ever  his  father- 
land, his  dear  home,  and  all  which  that  blessed  word 
comprises,  the  chosen  friends  of  his  heart,  and  the 
long-cherished  hopes  for  his  country's  freedom,  for 
which  he  had  sacrificed  so  much.  All  the  externals 
of  his  being  had  changed  and  vanished  like  a  dream. 
But  that,  which  was  life  to  him,  was  still  the  same  ; 
—  faith,  and  hope,  and  love  remained  to  him.  He 
has  often  said  to  me,  in  speaking  of  his  feelings  at  that 
time,  that  the  heaven-bounded  ocean,  the  illimitable 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  125 

sky,  the  invisible  winds,  were  his  best  companions  and 
comforters;  that  their  influence  was  irresistible,  in 
soothing  and  elevating  his  mind,  and  preparing  him  to 
meet,  with  courage,  the  unknown  future  which  lay 
before  him. 

It  was  then,  that  his  thoughts  returned  with  new 
energy  and  devotion  to  religion,  which,  from  his  ear- 
liest youth,  had  been  the  subject  of  his  deepest  and 
holiest  interest,  and  most  profound  and  faithful  study. 
As  we  have  seen,  when  but  a  boy  he  aspired  after 
something  more  perfect,  more  spiritual,  than  he  found 
in  what  was  called  religion  by  those  around  him. 

In  his  Preface  to  "  Religion  and  the  Church," 
written  some  years  after  this  time,  he  says,  "  More 
than  twenty  years  ago,  when  I  was  pursuing  my 
studies  in  a  German  university,  I  felt  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  inefficacy  of  the  established  forms 
of  faith  and  worship.  Their  unfitness  to  satisfy  the 
spiritual  wants  of  my  own  nature,  and  to  quicken  the 
religious  affections  and  energies  of  the  people,  called 
up  in  my  mind  the  image  of  a  universal  church,  a 
church  of  mankind,  having  no  other  foundation  and 
support,  than  the  natural  interest  of  men  in  religion. 

"  The  true  interests  of  the  church,  that  is,  the  re- 
ligious interests  of  man,  seemed  to  me  most  effec- 
tually secured,  by  relying  wholly  and  solely  on  the 
principles  of  individual  freedom  and  intimate  spiritual 
intercourse  among  men,  and  the  tendency  to  infinite 
progress  in  human  nature. 

"  This  early  philosophic  vision,  mixed  up  with 
some  extraneous  and  heterogenous  notions,  has  never 
11  * 


126         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

faded  from  my  mind,  but  continued  to  grow  clearer, 
and  more  inspiring  to  action,  although  unfavorable 
circumstances,  and  a  conscientious  apprehension  of 
the  unripeness  of  some  of  my  views,  prevented  any  at- 
tempt at  carrying  it  into  effect. .  Many  stray  thoughts, 
and  some  continuous  arguments  were  committed  to 
writing  at  different  times.  Some  of  the  leading  ideas, 
in  the  first  chapter  of  this  tract,  were  published  in 
1823,  in  the  '  Annals  of  Basle,'  in  an  article  on  the 
'  Destination  of  Man.'  Twelve  years  ago,  when  cross- 
ing the  Atlantic,  to  commence  life  anew  irx  a  new 
world,  that  long  cherished  scheme  of  religious  philan- 
thropy was  ever  before  my  mind,  as  the  only  star  of 
promise  amidst  the  gloom  of  disappointed  hopes,  baf- 
fled exertions,  and  broken  bonds  of  affection.  Many 
passages,  now  first  published,  were  composed  on  that 
voyage." 

This  was  not  Dr.  Follen's  only  occupation  during 
this  voyage.  He,  with  his  friend  Dr.  Beck,  studied 
a  German  work  they  had  taken  with  them,  upon  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  Declaration 
of  American  Independence  had,  in  his  early  youth, 
inspired  him  with  enthusiastic  admiration.  It  was 
upon  this  country,  that  he  rested  his  faith  in  the 
possibility  of  freedom.  Here,  in  our  favored  land, 
he  believed  that  all  his  golden  dreams  might  be  real- 
ized. This  faith  he  never  relinquished. 

Dr.  Follen  endeavoured,  during  the  voyage,  to  ac- 
quire some  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  He 
kept  a  journal,  from  which  I  make  the  following  ex- 
tracts. They  have  a  value,  as  they  prove  -a  cheerful 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

and  observing  state  of -mind,  never  dwelling  on  past 
failures,  but  hoping  and  trusting  for  the  future. 

"  Departure  in  the  Cadmus,  5th  November,  1824. 
Cloudy  weather.  Coast  of  France  (Normandy). 

"  5th   and   6th.     Coast  of  England,  very  distinct. 

"  7th  November.  Wood  upon  a  large  range  of 
hills,  and  a  village,  near  the  shore  ;  near  Plymouth. 
Sea-sick  ten  days  ;  one  day  very  miserable.  Resistance 
to  imagination.  Walking  about  and  helping  on  deck. 

"  15th.  An  American  brig  ;  sailed  from  Liver- 
pool 25th  October.  The  Captains  saluted  each  oth- 
er, and  conversed  through  the  speaking  trumpet. 

"  19th  November.  Storm.  All  sails  taken  in. 
Wind  so  violent,  that  orve  is  obliged  to  bend  down 
the  face,  not  to  lose  one's  breath.  Quiet  on  board 
the  ship,  and  uproar  in  the  water.  A  lively  image  of 
Switzerland  endowed  with  life.  The  black  waves, 
with  their  green  and  white  edgings,  resemble  those 
walls  of  rocks  with  their  ice  and  snow  glory.  At 
other  times  the  Cadmus  carried  eighteen  sails.  I  was 
right  well. 

*  "  Auch  auf  dem  holzernen  Fische, 
Hier  mitten  im  Wassergezische 

Schwingl  das  Herz, 

Frei  von  Schmertz, 
Frei  wie  die  Lerche  sich  himmelwarta. 

"  Stdrmt  nnr,  ihr  wilden  Gewasser, 
Wir  werden  nicht  rother  nicht  bliisser, 

*  This  song  Dr.  Follen  often  sung.  He  composed  the  music 
and  the  words  at  the  same  time. 


128  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

Meergebraus, 
Sturmgesous, 
1st  far  die  Tapfern  ein  Ohrenschmaus. 

"  Wenngleich  mit  wildem  Geltlslen, 
Am  Mast  die  Wasser  sich  kussten, 

Freiheitsmuth, 

Liebesgluth, 
Brennt  auch  in  Sturm  und  in  Wasserfluth." 


"  Hast  du  mich  lieb,  oh  so  gib  mir  die  Hand, 
Lass  uns  wandern,  lass  uns  zielin, 
Mit  der  Sonne  nach  Westen  hin ; 
Dort  an  des  Meeres  anderni  Strand, 
Dort  ist  der  Freiheit,  dort  der  Menschheit  Vaterland. 


"  Suchst  du  hienieden, 
Hauslichen  Frieden  ? 
Hauslicher  Frieden  bliiht, 
Nur  wo  der  Freiheit  Sonne  glaht." 


*  The  first  and  third  of  these  poems  lose  so  much  of  their  power 
and  beauty  by  a  metrical  translation,  that  I  have  thought  it  best 
to  give  only  their  literal  meaning  in  English.  The  second,  which 
is  very  literal,  and  in  the  true  spirit  of  the  original,  is  by  a 
friend. 

^f*  \ 

"  In  this  great  wooden  fish, 

Here  in  the  midst  of  the  hissing  waters, 

Soars  the  heart, 

Free  from  sorrow, 
Free  as  the  lark,  heavenwards. 

"  Let  the  wild  waves  storm ;  — 
We  become  neither  redder  nor  paler. 
The  rushing  of  the  storm, 
The  roaring  of  the  ocean, 
Is  sweet  to  the  ear  of  the  brave. 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  129 

"  November  20th.  Almost  equally  stormy.  By 
turns,  rain,  rainbow,  and  sunshine.  Then  the  waves, 
blown  up  by  the  wind,  dissolve  into  showers  of  mist, 
and  the  rain  descends.  Heaven  and  sea  form  one 
world  of  tempest  and  mist.  Lightning  in  the  evening 
over  the  sea.  We  sail  quite  southwards,  because  the 
sea  is  more  calm. 

"November  24th  and  25th.  Mild  and  damp 
weather.  Sensations  as  in  the  mountains  of  the  Gri- 
sons  ;  headache  and  swelling  of  the  veins, 

26th.  Warm  and  dry,  a  glorious  spring  day ;  the 
sky  perfectly  blue.  Saw  in  the  morning  one  of  the 
Azores,  considerable  mountains. 

29th.  Storm.  The  Captain  had  us  secured  to 
the  rope  ladders.  The  Captain  promises,  after  this, 
generally  good  weather ;  until  now  every  cloud  brought 
a  storm,  now  only  rain. 

"  December  10th.  Bermudas,  a  long  island  and  a 
bold  rock  near  it  ;  wood  upon  it.  Rocks  running 

"  Though  with  wild  desire, 
Above  the  masts  the  waters  kiss  each  other, 

The  spirit  of  freedom, 

The  glow  of  love, 
Burns  in  the  storm  and  on  the  flood." 


"  O,  dost  thou  love  me  ?     Give  me,  then,  thy  hand. 

Let  us  wander,  let  us  fly, 

With  the  sun,  to  a  western  sky. 
There,  on  the  ocean's  other  strand, 
There,  there  is  freedom,  there  is  manhood's  father-land. 


"  Seekest  thou  lowly 
Household  peace  ? 
Household  peace  only  blooms 
Where  the  sun  of  freedom  shines.' 


130  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

into  the  sea.  Everywhere  white  spots  (probably 
rocks  of  sand  stone)  and  bastions.  A  pilot  came 
near,  inquiring  whether  we  intended  to  enter.  We  saw, 
at  the  distance  of  half  a  league,  houses  and  a  church. 
Many  English  ships  on  the  shores  of  the  islands. 
Beautiful  scenery;  lights  in  the  houses,  on  shore,  ex- 
citing home  feelings.  Venus  bright  and  full  ;  threw 
a  long  streak  of  light  over  the  sea.  Once  more,  in 
the  morning,  a  sight  of  the  island  ;  around  the  south- 
ern side  of  which  we  sailed.  Soon,  violent  wind, 
as  in  sailing  round  the  Azores. 

13th.  Thermometer  put  in  the  water,  71°.  This 
was  done  to  determine  whether  we  were  in  the  Gulf 
Stream  ;  not  yet  in  the  Stream. 

14th.  The  same  state  of  the  thermometer.  15th. 
In  the  afternoon  the  thermometer  rose  suddenly  to  76.° 

16lh.  Cold  ;  beautiful  sky.  In  the  evening  about 
five  leagues  from  the  American  coast  ;  which,  how- 
ever, is  very  low,  and  therefore  not  visible.  We  were 
near  Crpe  Hatteras.  Saw,  on  that  day,  seven  ships. 

17th.  Strong  east  wind  ;  clear  and  cold.  The 
Captain  and  lieutenants  say  we  shall  breakfast  in  New 
York  to-morrow  or  at  least  dine.  The  cold  in- 
creased, in  the  course  of  the  day,  perceptibly.  On 
the  16th,  in  the  afternoon,  passed  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina  ;  on  the  17th,  in  the  morning,  Virginia  ;  in 
the  afternoon  Maryland. 

18th.  Abominable  weather.  We  cannot  see  a 
quarter  of  a  league,  and  cannot,  therefore,  run  into 
the  harbour.  We  sailed  several  times  towards  south- 
east to  avoid  the  shore  ;  but  the  most  part  of  the 
time  we  had  two  sails  spread  in  opposite  directions,  so 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  131 

that  the  ship  moved  neither  forwards  nor  backwards. 
Soundings  were  made  every  few  minutes,  the  ship  re- 
quiring sixteen  feet  of  water.  In  the  evening  splen- 
did starlight.  We  steer  again  towards  New  York. 

19th.  Rose  at  six.  Splendid  starlight.  Three 
light-houses  from  the  promised  land.  Near  Sandy 
Hook.  The  edge  of  the  shore  already  distinguish- 
able. The  Captain  had  suspended  a  light  towards 
the  light-houses  ;  soon  a  sloop  came  towards  us, 
from  which  a  person  leaped  into  a  boat  and  came 
on  board  the  Cadmus.  It  was  the  pilot,  to  whom 
our  Captain  left  the  command  of  the  vessel.  Now 
followed  a  constant  change  of  the  ship's  course ;  so 
that  sometimes  we  approached,  sometimes  receded 
from  the  coast.  On  our  right  Long  Island  ;  on  the  left 
Staten  Island,  with  the  great  hospital  of  New  York 
near  the  sea.  Then  the  Fort  Lafayette,  a  round  bas- 
tion in  the  midst  of  the  sea.  The  bay  is  so  narrow, 
that  small  objects  can  be  recognised  on  both  sides. 
With  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  came  the  sound  of 
bells  from  New  York ;  it  happened  to  be  Sunday.  A 
boy  on  the  shore  of  Staten  Island.  Shore  of  New  Jer- 
sey. Soon  the  glittering  spires  of  New  York  rose  to 
view.  North  and  East  rivers.  A  forest  of  masts. 
Ships,  of  every  description,  all  around  the  city.  All 
the  shops  closed  on  Sunday." 

"Recollections  of  the  ship,  written  soon  afterwards. 

"  Usual  color  of  the  sea  iron  black  ;  near  the  shore 
greenish  and  yellowish  ;  of  various  colors  at  the  ris- 
ing and  setting  of  the  sun,  mostly  violet.  The  day 


132         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

is  somewhat  monotonous  ;    the  night  beautiful.     In 
the  latitude  of  the  Azores  the  moon  and  stars  shine 
more  brilliantly  sun-like.    Shining  of  the  sea  ;  small, 
very  bright  sparks  in  great  numbers,  especially  where 
the  friction  is  strongest,  at  the  prow  and  stern  ;  there 
nothing  but  waves  and  currents  of  light.     I  have  not 
seen  any  after  midnight,  but  frequently  in  nights   par- 
tially or  entirely  dark,  sometimes   beneath  the  foam, 
sometimes  openly  floating,  sometimes  floating  slowly 
along,   as  far  as  the  eye  could  follow.     It  arises,  I 
think,  from  phosphorus,  rather  than  insects,  for  the 
waves  of  light,  near  the  stern,  of  a  very  different  size, 
seem  to  be  of  the  same  kind  as  the  sparkles  of  light. 
When  we  see  the  sun  half  under  the  water,  it  appears 
as  if  it  shone  through  from  the  other  side.      The 
thousand  sparkling  little  lights  shine  from  under  a  float- 
ing veil  of  waves.      Sunrise  only  once  seen  in  such 
a  way,  that  the  sun  seemed  to  spring  forth  immediate- 
ly from  the  waves,  without  first  going  behind  clouds. 
Full  two  minutes  after  its  appearance,  before  it  whol- 
ly leaves  the  water  ;  at  last  it  keeps  its  fiery  fort  no 
longer  in  the  wave.      Porpoises  on  the  surface  of 
the  water,  playing  sportively.      Small  flying-fish;  the 
bat  among  fishes.     A  whale  spouting  from  the  water. 
Whole  fields  of  floating  sea-weed  as  we  came  near  the 
current  of  the  Gulf  Stream.   We  fished  up  a  quantity, 
and  found  attached  to  it  numerous  small  muscle  shells. 
We   were  four  in  the  cabin,  eight  in  the  steerage. 
All  French  except  ourselves,  and  a  man  who  speaks 
the  three  languages,  and  seems  to  have  taken  to  him- 
self the  worst  of  all  notions ;  he  is  nothing  in  himself. 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  133 

The  rest  common  Schmeissfliegen,  except  Phigue- 
pal,  with  four  pupils  whom  he  has  brought  with  him 
from  France.  He  has  been  eight  years  in  Paris, 
connected  with  an  institution  for  education,  which, 
however,  cannot  succeed  with  the  present  govern- 
ment, on  which  account  he  is  going  back  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  was  fourteen  years  since.  We  are 
agreed  in  political  views  ;  in  religious  and  in  philo- 
sophical systems  quite  different.  Two  old  gamesters. 
Black  cook,  mulatto  servants.  Steward,  the  master 
of  sports.  This  the  whole  home  establishment  at 
sea.  The  goat  devours  wood,  paper,  clothes. 

"  The  barber  observes  the  weather,  in  order  to  de- 
cide whether  he  can  shave  to-day  or  not.  Twelve 
sailors  on  the  yards,  in  a  storm,  to  reef  the  sails.  In 
our  ship  the  rule  is,  that  nothing  is  impossible ;  in  the 
French,  on  the  contrary,  they  assume  that  possible 
things  are  impossible. 

"  White,  fleecy  clouds  over  the  other  clouds,  an- 
nounce west  wind  ;  it  happened  twice  according  to 
the  prediction  of  the  Captain  ;  the  last  time  I  noticed 
it  myself.  Phiguepal  insists  it  is  false,  that  all  the 
Moors,  excepting  a  few  individuals,  were  born  white." 

"  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 

"  De  Rham,  a  merchant  to  whom  we  were  recom- 
mended by  Iselin  of  Basle,  exchanged  our  money  at 
five  per  cent. ;  recommended  us  to  his  brother-in-law, 
Moore,  Professor  of  Philology  in  New  York,  and  to  a 
clergyman  named  Schaffer.  The  latter  thought,  that, 

VOL.  i.  12 


134  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

if  we  understood  English,  we  could  find  occupation 
in  New  York.  He  promised  us  every  assistance,  if 
we  should  not  succeed  in  Philadelphia.  We  lodge 
in  a  French  boarding-house,  kept  by  Madame  De 
Lille  ;  five  dollars  a  week  for  board  and  lodging. 
Cooking  in  the  French  style,  very  good.  Principally 
French  lodgers  ;  a  frivolous  set,  most  of  them  quite 
unhappy,  because  no  one  regards,  in  the  least,  their 
national  or  personal  vanity.  They  have  a  bad  reputa- 
tion, on  account  of  their  irreligious  mode  of  thinking, 
and  their  immoral  lives.  Mostly  thorough  atheists  ; 
a  few  old  royalists,  with  fawning  and  artificial  man- 
ners, by  which  they  spoil  a  good  dinner.  A  great 
many  Jews,  some  of  good  character,  others  very  bad. 
Society  of  young  German  merchants.  Poles.  On 
going  out,  severe  pain  in  the  teeth.  Dentist.  A 
great  many  dentists  in  New  York.  Athenaeum,  Mu- 
seum, particularly  of  objects  in  natural  history. 
Somewhat  confused,  but  some  excellent  specimens  in 
the  animal  kingdom.  Bust  of  Lafayette,  very  like. 
Porter  and  oyster  houses.  Trip  to  Long  Island  ; 
horse  boat  and  steamboat.  Splendid  view.  From 
Fort  Lafayette  the  old  hero  received  the  first  salute 
of  cannon.  A  ball  in  New  York,  in  which  six  thou- 
sand persons  took  part ;  each  person  paid  five  dollars 
entrance.  Brilliant  festival  in  all  respects.  Broad- 
way. At  noon  a  great  promenade  for  the  gay  world. 
The  ladies  extremely  showy  in  their  dress  ;  but  not 
all  tasteful  ;  nothing  national.  French  fashions  ; 
great  variety  of  colors  worn  together.  Extraordinary 
increase  of  population.  The  houses  neat,  but  not 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  135 

grand  ;  at  least  one  drawing-room.  Whisky  punch. 
New  Year's  eve  ;  noise,  hubbub,  and  singing  in  the 
streets.  The  best  point  of  view  in  the  city  is  from 
the  church,  from  which  one  overlooks  the  City  Hall, 
Broadway,  and  Chatham  Street.  Beautiful  walk  on 
the  Battery,  at  the  mouth  of  the  North  River.  The 
finest  ships  are  the  packet  ships  to  Liverpool.  Great 
steamboats  on  the  North  River  to  Albany.  Choice 
of  Clinton  by  the  Democratic  party.  Schaffer's  pref- 
erence for  German  literature,  and  his  familiar  acquaint- 
ance with  it.  He  would  have  made  us  acquainted 
with  Clinton,  but  he  was  absent.  Letter  to  Lafayette. 
Our  situation.  Answer  of  the  2d  of  January.  Advice 
to  go  to  Cambridge,  &c.  Departure  for  Philadel- 
phia. Meeting  with  a  Brazilian,  who  was  banished 
by  the  Emperor  as  an  insurgent.  He  wished  to  be 
independent  of  Portugal,  but  to  have  unlimited  pow- 
er. 'I  trust  the  Emperor,'  he  said,  'as  much  as 
he  trusts  me,  for  he  knows  that  I  understand  him.' 
Freedom  is  called,  in  Brazil,  liebschaft. 

"  Arrived  on  the  12th  of  January,  with  recom- 
mendations to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schaffer.  Letter  to  the 
learned  Du  Ponceau.  Acquaintance  with  Rev.  Mr. 
Schweitzerbart  ;  he  told  me  of  Rapp  and  his  col- 
ony, who  have  returned  to  their  former  situation  on 
the  Ohio.  His  people  believe  of  him,  that  he  will  not 
die  ;  for  example,  when  the  bridge,  which  he  had 
caused  to  be  built,  broke  when  he  was  upon  it,  and 
he  was  precipitated  into  the  water,  the  people  think 
that,  if  he  had  not  been  drawn  out,  he  would  have  been 
somehow  saved.  He  compares  his  Harmonists  with 


136  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

the  people  of  Israel,  and  himself  with  Moses,  and 
threatens  the  like  punishment  if  they  disobey  him. 
No  one  dares  marry  without  his  consent.  He  re- 
quires the  most  implicit  devotion.  He  does  not, 
indeed,  forbid  marriage ;  but  he  wishes  the  people  to 
consider  it  as  forbidden  ;  because  he  considers  his  fol- 
lowers as  the  angels  in  heaven,  and  recommends  a 
like  angelic  purity,  requiring  of  the  real  Harmonists  a , 
separation  of  the  sexes.  Hence  quarrels  arise  fre- 
quently among  married  people,  which  he  must  recon- 
cile. But  the  blind  faith  in  him  has  diminished. 

"  The  painter,  Drechsler.  Doughty;  a  young  man, 
good  in  designing,  imperfect  in  finishing.  Scenes  on 
the  Schuylkill.  Museum,  mammoth,  remarkable  bones 
from  the  neck,  very  old  and  badly  preserved  remains. 
Fine  manner  of  uniting  the  doors  of  two  houses  sim- 
ilarly built,  thus  making  a  common  entrance,  by  which 
means  the  two  houses  have  the  appearance  of  one 
large  one.  The  western  part  of  the  city  poorly  built. 
Water- works.  Penitentiary. 

"  Wednesday,  January  19th.  We  left  the  Ger- 
man boarding-house  of  Block,  and  came  to  Madame 
Andale's,  260  Arch  Street,  whose  daughter  is  our 
English  teacher.  West's  picture,  in  a  building  appro- 
priated to  it.  Dead  coloring.  Christ  stands  too 
much  in  the  foreground,  as  if  he  were  there  rather  on 
account  of  the  spectators,  than  of  the  sick  ;  he  stands 
there  for  himself,  not  one  with  the  picture  ;  his  glance 
not  directed  to  any  particular  object.  The  sick  are 
best  represented.  The  arm  of  the  bearer  of  the  old 
man,  on  the  right  side  of  the  picture,  is  drawn  too 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  137 

thick  and  too  long.  The  Apostles  old  and  hoary- 
looking.  Many  Americans  praise  it  beyond  measure, 
without  knowledge  of  the  art.  In  the  description  it 
is  stated  that  the  artist,  in  order  to  complete  the  ex- 
pression of  pity,  has  somewhat  expanded  the  nostrils 
of  Christ,  as  takes  place  in  sighing. 

"We  are  learning  by  heart,  that  we  may  know 
how  to  spell. 

"  Mrs.  Andale  says,  that  she  has  seen  General 
Washington  carry  home  from  market,  in  his  own 
hands,  a  partridge  which  he  had  been  buying.  Ex- 
cellent letter  from  Lafayette,  telling  me  of  Professor 
Ticknor,  and  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  who  wished  me  to 
give  him  a  narrative  of  our  persecution,  to  put  in  the 
newspaper.  Mr.  Du  Ponceau  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  learned  and  able  jurists,  not  as  an  orator,  but  as 
a  counsellor,  by  which  he  has  amassed  a  large  fortune. 

"  Strength  of  parties  for  Adams  and  Jackson. 
Clay  gave  his  vote  for  the  former,  who  was  accord- 
ingly elected.  Professor  Ticknor's  unexpected  ar- 
rival at  the  beginning  of  February.  He  promises  Dr. 
Beck  to  write  for  him  to  Northampton,  to  the  very 
person  to  whom  De  Wette's  recommendation  is  ad- 
dressed, the  director  of  a  flourishing  institution  for 
education,  Mr.  G.  Bancroft.  Dr.  Beck  has  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  Bancroft  a  letter  of  invitation  to  stay 
at  his  house.  Promise  of  the  place  of  Greek  and 
Latin  Professor.  Beck  will  go  the  14th  of  February. 
Various  sports  of  the  children  under  a  large  window, 
which  served  as  a  door.  A  large  collection  in  the 
court-yard  of  the  State  House.  The  children  play- 
12* 


138  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ing  on  the  roof  of  a  portico,  in  the  sight  of  the 
people.  They  play,  that  they  are  making  choice  of 
a  President.  They  place  him,  as  a  President  should 
be  placed,  in  a  public  assembly.  Laughter.  Table 
of  playthings,  &c.,  was  pushed  out  of  the  window 
on  the  top  of  the  portico. 

"  22d  February.  Washington's  birth-day.  Bad 
weather.  Appearance  of  some  companies  in  uniform, 
unhappily  quite  European.  Celebration  by  the  Wash- 
ington Benevolent  Society.  The  members  of  the 
Society  signifying  the  rank  of  their  officers  by  various 
colored  bands,  &c.  Under  the  pulpit  a  picture  of 
Washington.  Women  in  the  gallery  ;  the  men  be- 
low. Washington  guards,  an  imitation  of  nobility. 
A  young  law  student  was  the  orator,  who  celebrated 
Washington's  domestic,  military,  and  political  char- 
acter. Among  the  greatest  of  those  who  had  held 
offices,  he  mentioned  only  Hamilton,  Jay,  Adams, 
and  Knox,  but  not  Jefferson. 

"  On  the  23d,  came  a  letter  from  my  mother,  and 
a  picture. 

"  Sunday,  27th  February.  Harald,  a  Catholic 
priest  from  Ireland.  He  had  never  before  spoken 
against  other  doctrines  ;  but  only  exhorted  to  broth- 
erly love.  At  Washington,  however,  a  preacher  had 
spoken  severely  against  the  Catholics.  Now  Harald 
began  to  speak  against  the  Protestant  doctrines.  In 
America  they  never  say  '  heretics,'  but  '  our  separ- 
ated brethren.'  " 

Dr.  Follen  has  said  to  me,  in  speaking  of  his  arri- 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  139 

val  in  this  country,  that,  when  he  was  told  by  the 
captain  that  they  were  within  sight  of  New  York, 
while  it  was  yet  so  foggy  that  he  could  see  nothing 
beyond  the  ship,  he  stood  straining  his  eyes  with  al- 
most a  feeling  of  apprehension,  lest  the  New  World, 
like  his  other  hopes,  should  vanish  before  he  should 
actually  touch  the  soil  ;  when  suddenly  the  mist  lifted 
up,  and  the  sun  burst  forth,  and  kindled  up  the  glit- 
tering spires  of  the  city  ;  and  he  heard  the  Sab- 
bath bells  calling  the  inhabitants  to  church.  In 
another  moment,  as  it  were,  he  found  himself  stand- 
ing upon  the  soil  of  free  America.  "  I  wanted,"  he 
said,  "  to  kneel  upon  the  ground,  and  kiss  it,  and 
cling  to  it  with  my  hands,  lest  it  should  even  then 
escape  my  grasp." 

He  and  his  friend,  Dr.  Beck,  proceeded  to  a 
French  boarding-house.  Dr.  Follen  immediately 
wrote  to  Lafayette,  the  only  person  he  knew  in  this 
country.  General  Lafayette  was  then  in  Washing- 
ton. His  reply  sufficiently  indicates  the  purpose  of 
Dr.  Follen's  letter. 

"  Washington,  2  Janvier,  1825. 
"  Votre  lettre  du  22  Decembre  ne  m'a  pas  trouve* 
ici,  Monsieur  ;  et,  quoique  arrive  dans  la  nuit  du  31, 
je  n'ai  pas  pu  vous  repondre  dans  la  journee  d'hier 
qui  a  ete  employee  comme  vous  le  verrez  sans  doute 
dans  les  papiers  publics.  Ce  n'est  que  le  matin  que 
j'ai  pu  faire  les  consultations  dont  j'avais  besoin 
avant  de  vous  ecrire  ;  elles  s'accordent  avec  ce  que 
m'avait  dit  le  Gouverneur  Schulz  de  1'Etat  de  la 


140  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

Pennsylvania  a  qui  j'avais  parle  de  Monsieur  Beck 
et  de  vous  des  les  premiers  moments  de  mon  arrivee 
&  Philadelphie.  Permittez  moi  d'abord  de  vous  ex- 
pcimer  la  part  que  je  prends  aux  persecutions  dont 
vous  avez  ete  1'objet  et  a  votre  heureux  debarque- 
ment  sur  la  terre  de  la  liberter 

"Quoique  la  Haute  Pennsylvanie  soit  peuplee  en 
grande  partie  d'anciens  Allemands,  leurs  occupations 
plus  agricoles  que  litteraires,  si  elles  offrent  des 
chances  pour  des  colons,  ne  seraient  pas  aussi  con- 
venables  pour  votre  cornpagnon  et  vous  que  le  se- 
jour  de  Cambridge  pres  Boston,  la  portion  des  Etats 
Unis  ou  la  litterature  allemande  est  le  plus  en  hon- 
neur.  Vous  trouverez  a  cette  universite  les  Profes- 
seurs  Everett  et  Ticknor,  et  quelques  autres,  le 
President  lui-meme,  le  Docteur  Kirkland,  tous  tres 
disposes  a  vous  etres  utiles.  Le  concours  aux  places, 
et  autres  avantages  litteraires,  est  une  chose  qui  ne 
depende  pas  de  leur  bonne  volonte  ;  mais  elle  vous 
rendrait  agreable  le  terns  necessaire  pour  apprendre 
1'Anglais,  condition  indispensable  aux  Etats  Unis. 

"  Si  vous  preferiez  le  sejour  de  Washington  ou  de 
ses  environs,  je  serais  tres  empresse  d'en  profiler, 
devant  y  passer  le  mois  de  Janvier  et  peut-etre 
une  partie  de  Fevrier,  sans  quelques  voyages  d'ou  je 
reviendrai  ici  pour  faire  ensuite  une  jpurnee  de 
trois  a  quatre  mois  qui  ramenera  vers  le  10  Juin  a 
Boston.  Mais  le  sejour  de  Washington  est  fort  cher; 
on  n'y  est  occupe  que  de  politique  Americaine  et 
de  soirees  amusantes,  et  je  ne  vois  pas,  quant  a  pre- 
sent, de  1'avantage  pour  vous  a  venir  y  apprendre 


1'Anglais. 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  141 

"  Le  Professeur  Ticknor,  qui  est  ici,  sera  le  25  du 
mois  a  Philadelphia  oil  vous  pourriez  venir  causer 
avec  lui.  Son  avis  est,  que  vous  alliez  des  a  present 
a  Cambridge  ;  dans  ce  cas  nous  vous  enverrions  des 
lettres  pour  nos  amis. 

"  Mandez  moi  de  suite  ici  quels  sont  vos  projets. 
Offrez  mes  compliments  a  M.  Beck,  et  agreez  1'as- 
surance  de  ma  consideration  distinguee. 

"  LAFAYETTE."  * 


*  "  Washington,  January  2d,  1825. 

"  Your  letter  of  the  22d  of  December  did  not  find  me  in  this 
place  ;  and,  although  I  arrived  on  the  night  of  the  30th,  I  was  not 
able  to  reply  to  you  during  the  whole  of  yesterday,  which  was 
employed,  as  you  doubtless  will  see  by  the  public  papers.  It 
was  not  till  this  morning,  that  I  have  been  able  to  make  the  con- 
sultations which  were  necessary  before  writing  to  you.  They 
correspond  with  what  Governor  Schultz,  of  Pennsylvania,  said  to 
me,  when  I  spoke  to  him  of  you  and  of  Dr.  Beck  on  my  first  ar- 
rival at  Philadelphia.  Permit  me,  first,  to  express  the  interest 
which  I  take  in  the  persecutions  of  which  you  have  been  the  ob- 
ject, and  in  your  happy  arrival  in  this  land  of  liberty. 

"  Although  Upper  Pennsylvania  is  peopled  mostly  by  old  Ger- 
mans, their  occupations,  more  agricultural  than  literary,  if  they 
offer  good  opportunities  for  husbandmen,  are  yet  not  so  favorable 
for  your  companion  and  you  as  a  residence  in  Cambridge,  near 
Boston,  which  is  the  part  of  the  country  where  German  literature  is 
held  in  the  highest  honor.  You  will  find,  in  that  university,  the 
Professors  Everett  and  Ticknor  and  some  others,  and  the  President 
himself,  Dr.  Kirkland,  all  much  disposed  to  aid  you.  Appoint- 
ments to  office,  and  other  literary  advantages,  are  things  which 
do  not  depend  upon  their  favor ;  but  they  will  render  the  time 
agreeable  to  you,  which  is  necessary  for  learning  English,  an  in- 
dispensable condition  in  the  United  States. 

"  If  you  would  prefer  a  residence  in  Washington  or  its  environs, 
I  shall  be  eager  to  profit  by  it,  as  I  am  to  pass  the  month  of 
January,  and  perhaps  February  there,  except  some  excursions, 


142  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN, 

Immediately  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter  Dr. 
Follen  went  to  Philadelphia.  From  thence  he  again 
wrote  to  Lafayette.  I  give  an  extract  from  his 
reply. 

"  Washington,  13  Janvier,  1825. 

"  J'ai  regu  votre  lettre,  mon  cher  Monsieur,  et  je 
suis  alle  voir  M.  Ticknor  qui  part  apres  demain, 
mais  ne  sera  qu'en  dix  jours  a  Philadelphie  ;  je 
lui  ai  donne  votre  addresse. 

"  Je  viens  d'ecrire  a  M.  Du  Ponceau,  Francois  de 
naissance  mais  etabli  aux  Etats  Unis  depuis  plus  de 
quarante  ans.  II  est  de  toutes  les  institutions  litte- 
raires  et  savantes  de  Philadelphie.  Personne  n'est 
plus  que  lui  &  portee  de  vous  donner  de  bons  conseils 
et  de  vous  mettre  en  connaissance  avec  les  personnes 
qui  peuvent  contribuer  au  succes  des  vues  de  M. 
Beck  et  des  votres  ;  il  est  mon  ami  depuis  plus 


from  whence  I  shall  return  here,  to  make  afterwards  a  journey 
of  three  or  four  months,  which  will  bring  me,  towards  the  10th 
of  June,  to  Boston.  But  living  in  Washington  is  very  dear. 
They  are  only  occupied  with  American  politics,  and  evening  parties 
of  pleasure ;  and  I  do  not  see  at  present  any  advantage  in  your 
coming  here  to  learn  English. 

"  Professor  Ticknor,  who  is  here,  will  be  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  25th  of  this  month,  where  you  can  consult  him.  His  advice 
is,  that  you  should  go  now  to  Cambridge.  In  this  case  we  shall 
send  you  letters  for  our  friends. 

"  Let  me  know,  very  soon,  what  are  your  plans.  Present  my 
compliments  to  Dr.  Beck,  and  receive  the  assurance  of  my  high 
consideration. 

"  LAFAYETTE." 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  143 

d'un  demi-siecle.     Agreez  1'un  et  1'autre  mes  sen- 
timents de  consideration  et  d'attachment. 

"  LAFAYETTE."  * 

La  Fayette's  letter  to  M.  Du  Ponceau  secured  to 
Dr.  Follen  the  truly  kind  and  efficient  aid  of  this  dis- 
tinguished man.  He  introduced  him  to  his  literary 
friends,  and  showed  him  every  possible  kindness.  As 
soon  as  Professor  Ticknor  arrived  in  Philadelphia, 
he  called  upon  Dr.  Follen,  and  offered  him  every 
friendly  aid,  of  which,  as  a  stranger,  he  might  stand 
in  need.  He  had  now  agreeable  lodgings,  and  began 
to  make  some  progress  in  English.  Mrs.  Andale, 
though  a  French  lady,  had  been  from  early  youth  an 
inhabitant  of  this  country  ;  and  her  daughter  was  born 
here.  Dr.  Beck  and  Dr.  Follen  made  a  part  of  the 
family. 

An  anecdote,  in  relation  to  this  lady,  may  not  be 
uninteresting.  Under  some  pecuniary  difficulty  she 

*  "  Washington,  January  13/A,  1825. 

"  I  have  received  your  letter,  my  dear  Sir,  and  I  have  been  to 
see  Mr.  Ticknor,  who  leaves  here  to-morrow,  but  who  will  not  be 
in  Philadelphia  in  less  than  ten  days.  I  have  given  him  your 
address. 

"  1  have  just  written  to  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  a  Frenchman  by  birth, 
but  who  has  been  established  in  the  United  States  for  more  than 
forty  years.  He  is  connected  with  all  the  literary  and  learned  insti- 
tutions of  Philadelphia.  No  person  is  more  fitted  than  he  to  give 
you  good  advice,  and  to  make  you  acquainted  with  all  those  per- 
sons who  can  contribute  to  the  success  of  your  and  Dr.  Beck's  views. 
We  have  been  friends  for  more  than  half  a  century.  Accept  from 
me,  both  of  you,  sentiments  of  consideration  and  attachment. 

"  LAFAYETTE." 


144  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

had  borrowed  twenty-two  dollars  from  Dr.  Follen's 
small  store  of  money.  When  he  left  her,  she  was 
unable  to  repay  him.  Some  years  after,  when  we 
were  in  Philadelphia,  he  called  upon  her,  for  he  had  a 
great  regard  for  her.  She  was  rejoiced  to  see  him  ; 
but  expressed  her  grief,  that  she  could  not,  on  ac- 
count of  her  poverty,  pay  her  debt  to  him.  He  had 
forgotten  it,  and  begged  her  also,  from  that  time,  to 
think  no  more  of  it.  Three  years  after,  he  received 
this  money,  with  the  interest,  from  her  executor,  who 
said,  that  such  were  her  feelings  towards  him  on  this 
account,  that,  when  she  was  on  her  death-bed,  she 
had  given  order,  that  this  debt  should  be  paid  him, 
as  a  proof  of  her  memory  of  his  kindness  toward 
her. 

A  letter,  which  Dr.  Follen  now  wrote  to  his 
parents,  somewhat  less  than  a  month  after  his  arrival, 
will  show  how  much  he  had  observed  in  this  short 
time. 

"  Philadelphia,  January  13th,  1825. 
"  MY  BELOVED  PARENTS  AND  SISTERS, 

"  You  will  already  have  received  news  from  Basle, 
whither  I  sent  my  first  letters  from  New  York,  of 
our  voyage  and  safe  arrival  in  this  native  land  of  free- 
dom. We  had,  on  the  whole,  a  good  passage  for 
the  season.  The  storm  we  encountered  on  the  19th 
of  November  was  on  the  open  sea,  and  in  an  Ameri- 
can ship.  There  was  nothing  to  be  feared.  We 
were  received  in  a  very  friendly  manner  by  those  to 
whom  we  had  letters 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         145 

"  My  friend,  Charles  Beck,  is  a  philologist  and 
theologian,  and  seeks  a  situation  as  professor  or 
preacher.  I,  with  my  jurisprudence  and  philosophy, 
can  only  find  a  sphere  of  action,  suited  to  my  former 
life,  in  some  one  of  the  higher  seminaries  in  this 
country.  From  Lafayette  I  received  a  very  friend- 
ly answer  on  the  subject.  He  advised  me  to  go  to 
Philadelphia  first,  and  then  to  Cambridge,  near  Bos- 
ton, the  seat  of  the  most  celebrated  university  in  the 
United  States,  and  promised  to  give  me,  at  this  place, 
letters  of  introduction  there.  I  have  therefore  taken 
his  advice.  But  the  necessary  condition  of  suc- 
cess in  America  is  the  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage ;  and  to  learn  this  thoroughly  will  require  a 
full  year.  Happily,  the  means  which  we  have  raised 
will  allow  us  to  spend  the  whole  year  in  gaining  a 
knowledge  of  the  country  and  of  the  language,  and 
without  incurring  any  debt.  If,  then,  dear  father, 
you  can  comply  with  the  request  which  I  sent  from 
Basle,  then  I  can  establish  myself  here,  and,  by  my 
own  exertions,  which  have  heretofore  been  sufficient, 
can  support  myself  well.  But  I  repeat,  again,  that 
the  fulfilment  of  my  request  must  neither  cause  you 
any  inconvenience,  nor  must  it  injure  my  mother,  or 
brothers  and  sisters. 

"  I  know  the  country  and  the  people  too  little,  at 
present,  to  be  able  to  determine  what  occupation  I 
should  now  take  up.  One,  however,  presents  itself 
already,  namely,  the  German  language  and  literature, 
which  there  is  much  inclination  to  study  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States.  Be  assured,  that  I  am. 

VOL.  i.  13 


146  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

not  forsaken  here,  but  find  friends  in  necessity,  as  I 
did  in  Switzerland.  People  here  are  distrustful  of 
those  who  come  without  good  recommendations  ;  but 
that  is  quite  natural,  since  they  have  already  been  so 
often  deceived.  Even  if  one  comes  well  recommend- 
ed, they  do  not  give  him  full  confidence,  until  he  has 
lived  a  considerable  time  with  them.  The  govern- 
ment interferes  scarcely  at  all,  but  acts  merely  as  a 
defence  against  breaches  of  the  law  ;  and  there  is 
certainly  no  country,  where  one  lives  more  securely 
without  passports,  police  officers,  and  soldiers,  than 
here.  Almshouses  and  penitentiaries  are  more  per- 
fect here  than  elsewhere*  In  education  they  make 
rapid  progress.  For  the  rest,  they  let  men  alone  ; 
and  thus  every  thing  is  much  better  done,  than  when 
it  is  accomplished  by  direction  of  the  authorities. 
Taxes  there  are  none,  or  scarcely  any  ;  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  whole  United  States  does  not  cost  so 
much  as  that  of  one  of  our  Principalities.  Any  man 
can  call  together,  by  a  public  announcement,  in  the 
open  squares,  an  assembly  of  several  thousands,  in 
which  petitions  to  the  government  may  be  discussed, 
and  its  measures  criticized  ;  but,  as  yet,  there  has 
been  no  example  of  any  disorder  or  disturbance  of 
the  public  peace  in  consequence.  The  government 
does  not  concern  itself  with  the  exercise  of  religion, 
speech,  or  the  press,  except  so  far  as  the  rights  of 
any  might  thereby  be  impaired. 

"  There  are  a  great  many  Germans  here,  who 
constitute  a  large  part  of  the  population  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  many  villages  and  towns,  scarcely  any 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  147 

English  is  spoken  or  preached.  Our  peasantry,  who 
have  emigrated  here,  have  generally  succeeded  very 
well.  They  call  every  one  Duy  and  are  zealous  demo- 
crats. They  are  much  prized  on  account  of  their 
industry  and  rectitude.  The  agricultural  riches  of 
America  are  in  their  hands.  There  is  yet  but  little 
of  a  higher  progress  to  be  found  among  them.  They 
interest  themselves,  however,  very  warmly  in  affairs 
of  religion  and  politics.  Politics  are  here  every  one's 
concern.  It  is  literally  true,  that  women,  employed 
in  the  kitchen,  take  part  in  them,  and  read  the  public 
prints,  which  are  published  here  in  great  numbers. 
There  are  here  no  state  secrets  ;  but  the  opinion  is 
prevalent,  that  the  welfare  of  all  is  the  concern  of  the 
so-called  common  man. 

"  The  former  king  of  Spain,  Joseph  Bonaparte, 
is  regarded  here  as  a  very  good  citizen.  He  has  es- 
tablished himself  in  the  United  Slates,  and  publicly 
declares  his  satisfaction  in  living  here.  Recently  a 
large  country-seat  of  his  took  fire  in  his  absence. 
The  whole  neighbourhood  assembled  to  extinguish  the 
flames.  He  lost  nothing  of  his  numerous  treasures, 
which  the  country  people  had  rescued  for  him.  They 
brought  him,  unasked  for,  every  thing  that  was  saved, 
although  he  could  not  have  proved,  that  any  thing  of 
his  was  in  their  possession. 

"  In  trade,  however,  the  Americans  are  very 
sharp  ;  and  whoever  gives  himself  the  air  of  knowing 
any  thing  is  easily  overreached.  Towards  others,  who 
confide  entirely  in  them,  they  conduct  themselves,  at 
least  in  many  instances,  very  uprightly.  Much  depends 


148         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

on  the  religious  sentiment,  but  nothing  on  religious 
opinions.  One  may  declare  himself  an  atheist,  a 
heathen,  or  a  Christian. 

"  When  you  write,  I  should  like  much,  that  you 
would  all,  parents,  sisters,  and  brothers-in-law,  write 
something.  You  can  imagine,  from  your  own  ex- 
perience, what  great  delight  it  gives  to  one  at  a 
distance  of  more  than  three  thousand  miles  from  his 
dear  home,  to  receive  such  a  greeting. 

"  God  be  praised,  that  we  have  here  so  much  to 
do,  and  that  we  find  so  rich  an  enjoyment  in  this 
glorious  liberty,  that  the  painful  thoughts  of  our  dear 
ones,  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  do  not  quite  over- 
power us.  Write,  however,  very  particularly,  how 
it  is  with  each  of  you.  Sympathy  with  all  those 
whom  one  loves  does  not  diminish,  but  rather  in- 
creases with  distance.  Now  farewell  affectionately, 
and  endeavour  to  forget  your  pain  at  my  absence,  in 
the  thought  that  it  is  well  with  me,  that  I  feel  my- 
self free  and  happy.  I  greet,  cordially,  parents,  sis- 
ters, and  friends. 

"  Your  CHARLES." 

Dr.  Follen  declared  his  wish,  immediately  after  his 
arrival  in  Philadelphia,  to  be  made  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States.  He  devoted  himself,  with  unwearied 
energy  and  perseverance  to  the  study  of  the  English 
language  ;  and  his  success  was  uncommon.  In  less 
than  six  months  he  began  to  prepare  a  course  of  lec- 
tures upon  the  civil  law,  which  he  intended  to  deliver 
in  Philadelphia,  and  which  he  afterwards  did  deliver 


•*/ 
LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  149 

in  Boston,  in  rather  less  than  a  year  from  the  time  of 
his  arrival  in  America.  These  lectures  are  not  pub- 
lished in  these  volumes,  as  it  was  not  thought  the 
subject  would  be  generally  interesting.  But  the  ease 
and  beauty  of  the  style  would  make  it  seem  almost 
incredible,  that  the  writer,  six  months  before  he  com- 
menced them,  could  not  utter  a  single  perfect  Eng- 
lish sentence. 

The  first  English  book  he  read,  was  Miss  Sedg- 
wick's  "  Redwood,"  which  he  enjoyed  highly.  He 
always  thought  it  aided  him  greatly  in  tuning  his  ear 
to  a  graceful  English  style,  and  to  a  just  comprehen- 
sion of  the  idioms  of  our  language.  I  find  among 
his  papers  a  copy  of  some  passages  from  the  preface 
to  "  Redwood,"  which  he  particularly  liked.  This 
was  probably  some  of  the  first  English  he  ever  wrote, 
as  the  hand  is  very  stiff. 

Through  the  kind  exertions  of  Professor  Ticknor 
and  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  Dr.  Follen,  in  the  autumn  of 
1825,  was  appointed  teacher  of  the  German  language 
in  Harvard  University.*  He  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment, and  soon  after  left  Philadelphia  for  Cambridge. 

*  See  Appendix. 


13* 


CHAPTER    IX. 


He  enters  upon  his  Duties  in  Cambridge.  —  Lectures  on  the  Civil 
Law  in  Boston.  —  Takes  Charge  of  a  Gymnasium  in  Boston. 
—  Extracts  from  Letters  to  Dr.  Beck.  —  Reading  Parties  in 
Boston.  —  Letter  to  his  Father. 

BEFORE  Dr.  Follen  established  himself  in  Cam- 
bridge, he  visited  his  friend,  Dr.  Beck,  at  Northamp- 
ton. He  also,  on  his  way  to  Boston,  paid  his  re- 
spects to  Miss  Sedgwick,  whose  writings  had  excited 
in  him  a  strong  desire  for  a  personal  acquaintance. 
She  was  then  at  her  brother's,  Mr.  Henry  Sedgwick's, 
in  New  York  ;  and  this  visit  led  to  a  friendship 
which  both  parties  ever  afterwards  counted  as  among 
those  treasures  which  shall  endure  for  ever. 

He  was  welcomed  with  great  cordiality  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  was  received  by  Dr.  Kirkland,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  University,  with  that  graceful  courtesy 
which  he  bestowed  upon  all,  and  that  considerate 
kindness  and  sympathy,  which  he  could  not  fail  to 
offer  to  one  who  had  been  a  sufferer,  who  was  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  and  who,  as  such,  was  in 
peculiar  want  of  that  unasked  for  tenderness  and  re- 
spect so  precious  to  a  homesick  heart.  Dr.  Follen 
loved  to  speak  of  his  gratitude  to  Dr.  Kirkland. 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  151 

A  class  was  soon  formed  in  Boston  to  hear  his 
course  of  lectures  on  the  civil  law.  These  gentle- 
men received  him  in  a  very  friendly  manner.  They 
invited  him  to  their  houses,  and  introduced  him  to 
many  interesting  acquaintances.  Professor  Ticknor 
was  a  very  kind  friend  to  him.  Under  his  hospitable 
roof  he  passed  many  happy  hours  ;  and  it  was  there, 
that  he  formed  some  valuable  and  permanent  friend- 
ships. 

As  soon  as  he  was  established  in  Cambridge,  he 
engaged  Mr.  William  Russell  to  assist  him  in  acquir- 
ing a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  English.  He  la- 
bored, with  almost  incredible  industry,  to  overcome 
every  difficulty  in  his  way  to  the  attainment  of  a  per- 
fect pronunciation.  He  would  sometimes  practise,  for 
an  hour  at  a  time,  on  one  particular  sound  of  one  of 
the  vowels  which  he  had  found  peculiarly  difficult. 
His  ear  was  very  nice  and  accurate  ;  and  he  was  never 
satisfied  till  he  had  acquired  the  sound  perfectly.  He 
was  truly  grateful  to  any  one  who  would  point  out 
any  defect  either  in  his  pronunciation  or  in  his  mode 
of  expression.  It  never  disturbed  his  serenity,  if  he 
discovered  that  his  mistakes  in  the  language  raised  a 
laugh  at  his  expense.  When  he  was  teaching  in  the 
University,  he  frequently  observed,  that  he  had  made 
some  blunder  which  occasioned  an  irrepressible  merri- 
ment among  his  pupils.  In  these  cases  he  would  say, 
"  You  must,  young  gentlemen,  tell  me  what  I  have 
said  that  is  so  laughable,  that  I  may  have  my  share 
of  the  amusement."  And  many  a  hearty  laugh  did 
they  have  together  when  they  explained  to  him  the 
mistake  he  had  made. 


152          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

In  the  spring  of  1826,  some  gentlemen,  who  were 
desirous  of  establishing  a  gymnastic  school  in  Bos- 
ton, proposed  to  Dr.  Follen  to  superintend  the 
erection  of  the  proper  apparatus,  and  become  the 
principal  instructor.  He  was  authorized  to  engage  a 
suitable  assistant,  and  was  offered  a  liberal  salary. 
He  accepted  the  proposal.  In  September  the  gym- 
nasium was  open  for  the  pupils.  This  was  the  means 
of  introducing  him  to  many  agreeable  acquaintances, 
with  whom  he  was  always  afterwards  upon  a  friendly 
footing.  Dr.  Follen,  also,  took  the  direction  of  the 
gymnastic  exercises  of  the  students  in  Harvard  Col- 
lege. As  soon  as  he  was  established  in  Cambridge, 
he  began  to  prepare  a  German  Reader,  and  soon 
after  a  Grammar.  The  number  of  his  pupils  was  con- 
tinually increasing  ;  and  he  continued  to  give  daily 
some  time  to  the  study  of  the  English  language  and 
literature,  so  that  his  time  was  sufficiently  occupied. 
I  find  among  his  papers,  extracts  from  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  English  metaphysical  writers  and 
poets,  dated  this  year. 

During  the  summer  vacation  he  had  made  a  visit 
to  Dr.  Beck,  who  accompanied  him  to  Stockbridge 
to  see  Miss  Sedgwick.  These  visits  to  his  country- 
man and  friend  he  often  spoke  of  with  great  delight. 
From  the  time  Dr.  Beck  had  left  him  in  Philadelphia, 
Dr.  Follen  had  constantly  written  to  him  of  all  that 
passed  around  him,  or  that  interested  him  in  any  way. 
Some  extracts  from  these  letters  have  been  kindly 
furnished  me  by  Dr.  Beck.  They  lead  us  back  to  his 
residence  in  Philadelphia. 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  153 

"  Philadelphia,  March,  1825. 

"  I  made,  the  other  day  at  the  Wistar  Club,  the 
acquaintance  of  a  Virginian,  who,  as  Du  Ponceau  tells 
me,  has  written  to  Jefferson  to  recommend  me  as 
teacher  of  the  Roman  law  in  the  institution  erected 
by  him.  But  I  consider  this  a  very  uncertain  mat- 
ter before  I  know  English  perfectly.  Besides,  I 
should  like  a  temporary  appointment  in  Virginia,  but 
not  a  permanent  one  in  a  slave  State.  I  am  very 
sorry  Lafayette  does  not  come  here.  But  I  shall 
certainly  go  in  June  to  Pittsburg  or  Boston  to  meet 
him.  By  that  time  I  hope  to  know  English  well,  so 
that  any  recommendation  of  his  may  be  of  immediate 
use." 

"  March  26.  Yesterday  at  last  came  the  first 
letters  from  Basle,  which  I  transmit  immediately  to 
you." 

"  April  20.  I  have  enrolled  my  name  with  Du 
Ponceau  as  a  law  student. 

"  What  your  father,  in  his  letter,  says  of  author- 
ship I  find  correct,  in  case  it  is  to  be  followed  as 
the  principal  pursuit.  But  I  cannot  here  omit  an 
observation,  which  I  think  I  have  before  stated  to 
you.  I  am  of  opinion,  that  every  one,  whose  edu- 
cation, as  to  its  foundation,  is  completed,  so  that 
he  can  pass  over  from  receiving  to  communicating, 
should,  with  a  faithful  regard  to  his  talent,  select  that 
system  of  action  in  which  he  can  accomplish  some- 
thing distinguished.  I  confess,  that  the  distant  as- 
pect of  my  plan  (of  becoming  a  lawyer,  or  rather 
professor  of  law)  disquiets  me  somewhat.  However, 


154  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

I  am  learning  English  ;  and  this,  like  *  godliness,  is 
profitable  for  all  things.'  " 

"  May  25.  I  have  passed  several  weeks,  for  the 
most  part,  in  bed  ;  and  this  confinement  has  reduced 
me  somewhat.  The  difficulty  commenced  with  the 
toothache,  as  in  New  York.  Now  I  am  well  again. 

"  I  expect  Lafayette  with  great  impatience.  I 
see  this  moment  in  the  papers,  that  Lafayette  will 
not  pass  through  here  on  his  way  to  Boston,  but  ar- 
rive there  directly  on  the  16th  of  June.  I  shall  go 
thither  at  any  rate  ;  but  I  should  like  to  meet  you, 
and  see  the  old  hero  with  you.  You  also  write  to  me, 
that  he  will  probably  come  to  Northampton.  Write 
immediately  what  you  consider  the  best  arrange- 
ment." 

"  June  25.  You  have  in  vain  expected  me.  I 
will  not  conceal  from  you  the  reasons  of  my  not  go- 
ing to  Boston  and  Northampton.  The  troublesome 
money  was  the  real  reason.  The  journey  would 
have  cost  me  over  thirty  dollars.  I  am  sorry  that 
this  wisdom  did  not  come  to  me  until  I  had  advanced 
as  far  as  New  York.  Du  Ponceau  has  now  spoken 
with  some  lawyers.  They  are  willing  to  attend  my 
lectures  on  law  next  winter.  I  could,  he  thinks, 
earn  by  them  at  least  one  hundred  dollars.  I  said 
that  they  must  not  expect  classical  English.  What 
do  you  say,  dear  brother,  to  this  long  absence  of  all 
letters  from  sweet  home  ?  I  hunger  and  long  for  this 
heart's  manna.  I  anticipate  much  pleasure  from  my 
lectures,  being  at  the  same  time  my  means  of  sup- 
port." 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  155 

"  July  25.  After  a  fatiguing  ride  from  North- 
ampton to  Albany,  and  after  a  beautiful  sail  from 
thence  to  New  York,  and  after  a  poor  night  at  Tren- 
ton, I  arrived  in  health,  but  very  tired,  in  Philadel- 
phia. Now  immediately  to  the  main  point.  I  have 
received  a  letter  from  Sartorius.  I  am  convinced  of 
the  correctness  of  his  statements.  I  believe  that 
Mexico  is  safe,  especially  since  the  acknowledgment 
of  the  independence  of  St.  Domingo  by  France, 
which  is  a  plain  hint  to  Spain.  But  I  go  not,  un- 
less my  prospects  here  should  be  entirely  overcast, 
which  will  be  determined  next  winter  by  my  lectures. 
The  United  States  offer  to  me  a  sphere  of  usefulness 
which  I  cannot  find  in  Mexico,  in  its  present  rude 
state.  This  is  the  view  of  duty,  which  is  not  over- 
balanced by  the  charm  of  a  free  life  of  friendship. 
You  have  already  gained  a  footing.  We  remain  here 
unless  the  prospect  of  an  early  independence  should 
vanish.  When  I  arrived,  on  Sunday  last,  I  found 
that  Lafayette  was  going  the  following  morning. 
I  could  not  see  him  that  day,  as  he  had  made  an  ex- 
cursion into  the  country.  I  went,  therefore,  on  Mon- 
day morning,  at  5  o'clock,  to  the  steamboat.  He 
welcomed  me  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  inquired 
after  you,  and  of  my  prospects.  I  went  with  him  as 
far  as  Chester.  He  invited  me,  urgently,  to  go  in 
August  to  Washington,  when  he  would  make  me  ac- 
quainted with  many  distinguished  men,  and  give  me 
letters  to  Jefferson  and  Monroe,  which  might  be  of 
service  to  me.  Although  I  feel  the  importance  of 
improving  the  last  moments  of  Lafayette's  presence, 


If 

156  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

the  money  for  the  journey  is  a  point  about  which  I 
am  not  certain.  Write  to  me  what  you  think  about 
Mexico.  I  am  now  studying  '  Blackstone's  Com- 
mentaries,' which  are  excellently  written.  Du  Pon- 
ceau will  soon  publish  my  statement  of  my  affairs  in 
Basle  in  one  of  the  papers.  I  had,  the  other  day,  in 
the  Philosophical  Society's  room,  a  long  and  friendly 
conversation  with  the  Prussian  minister.  Neither 
knew  the  other  until  Du  Ponceau  directed  my  atten- 
tion to  my  companion." 

"  August  25.  I  do  not  go  to  Washington,  chiefly 
because  the  journey  would  cost  me  more  than  forty 
dollars,  which  I  cannot  spare.  Du  Ponceau,  besides, 
dissuades  me,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  time.  I 
study  now  very  zealously.  I  live  in  the  country,  five 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  near  the  falls  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill,  in  a  beautiful  spot.  I  pay  only  two  dollars  and 
a  half  a  week.  How  is  it  as  to  your  plan  of  coming 
here  in  the  autumn  ?  " 

"  September  15.  I  employ  all  my  powers  to  pro- 
cure for  myself,  here  in  the  United  States,  a  sphere 
of  usefulness.  Yet  I  cannot  conceal  from  myself  the 
precarious  nature  of  my  position,  having  to  wait  near- 
ly five  years  to  become  an  advocate.  All,  therefore, 
depends  upon  the  success  of  my  lectures.  I  deliver 
the  introductory  on  the  first  of  October.  Terms, 
ten  dollars  a  ticket.  I  shall  give  thirty  lectures.  I 
have  reason  to  expect  a  numerous  audience.  I 
should  prefer  being  a  teacher  of  law,  with  a  fixed 
salary,  to  the  practice  of  the  law.  The  more  I  see 
of  the  state  of  things,  the  more  I  perceive,  that  the 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  157 

great  incomes  depend,  not  only  upon  great  ability  and 
knowledge,  but  also  on  many  half-honest  tricks.  1 
remain  in  the  country  till  October." 

"  November  25.  Du  Ponceau  only  on  October 
30th  communicated  to  me  a  letter  from  Professor 
Ticknor,  (he  had  received  it  some  time  ago,  but  had 
forgotten  it,)  who  says,  that  the  University  at  Cam- 
bridge contemplates  an  enlargement  of  its  departments, 
and  intends  to  appoint  a  teacher  of  the  German  lan- 
guage with  five  hundred  dollars'  salary,  and  asks  Du 
Ponceau,  whether  I  would  be  willing  to  accept  the 
place.  I  have  been  obliged  to  postpone  my  lectures 
several  weeks,  because  three  courts  are  now  sitting,, 
and  the  lawyers  have  too  much  to  do.  On  this  ac- 
count I  have  not  been  able  to  commence,  although  I 
showed  my  introductory  lecture  to  Du  Ponceau  a 
fortnight  ago,  who  praises  it  on  every  occasion,  and 
presses  me  to  print  it.  Professor  Ticknor  writes,  that 
if  I  wished  to  deliver  lectures  in  Boston  on  the  Roman 
law,  I  should  have  many  hearers.  I  could  do  this- 
very  well,  as  I  should  have  half  the  week  to  myself. 
You  see,  my  dear  friend,  that  these  offers  must  be 
more  agreeable  to  me,  who  seek,  above  all  things, 
independence  and  a  certain  support,  than  those  from 
Northampton,  [referring  to  an  invitation  to  give  lec- 
tures at  the  law  school  in  Northampton,  under  the 
care  of  Judge  Howe  and  Mr.  Mills,]  whither  I 
should  prefer  going  on  your  account.  I  have  con- 
sulted with  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  who  at  first  was  unde- 
cided, because  he  is,  as  I  think,  unwilling  to  lose  me, 
but  finally  considered  Cambridge  more  advantageous. 

VOL.  i.  14 


, 

158  LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

He  wrote,  at  my  request,  to  Mr.  Ticknor,  that  I 
would  accept  the  offer  as  soon  as  the  affair  was  cer- 
tain, but  that  I  wished  to  complete  my  course  of  lec- 
tures here  in  Philadelphia.  Du  Ponceau  has,  at  the 
same  time,  written  in  praise  of  my  knowledge  of  the 
law,  and  of  my  introductory  lecture,  and  urged  Profes- 
sor Ticknor  to  procure  for  me  at  Cambridge  a  profes- 
sorship of  civil  law,  as  is  customary  in  English  univer- 
sities. Thank  Judge  Howe  and  the  other  gentlemen 
for  their  confidence  and  friendly  offer,  but  say,  that  I 
am  not  yet  prepared  to  decide  upon  one  of  the  several 
prospects  opened  to  me.  You  see,  from  Jung's  letter, 
how  unfortunately  things  went  concerning  the  money 
sent  by  my  father.  Trusting  that  De  Rham  would  re- 
ceive the  money  in  a  short  time,  I  had  drawn  upon 
him  for  thirty  dollars  more  than,  according  to  our 
settlement,  stood  to  my  credit.  Write  therefore  to 
De  Rham  to  give  me  more  credit.  I  will  write 
to  Basle,  that  Jung  shall  send  what  rich  friends 
may  contribute  for  me,  on  condition  that  Jung  and 
your  father  do  nothing. 

"  November  28.  Tuesday  next  I  hope  to  be 
with  you.  I  have  accepted  the  offer  from  Boston, 
so,  however,  that  I  can  leave  after  signifying  my  in- 
tention. You  will  see  that  I  was  right  in  accepting." 

"  Cambridge,  December  22d,  1825. 

"  I  am  now  somewhat  settled  here.     I  lodge  with 

Professor  Stearns,  and  take  my  meals  at  Dr.  Ware's. 

Professor  Ticknor  has  been  constantly  very  friendly 

towards  me  ;  also  the  President  and  the  other  offi- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  159 

cers.  Having  come  a  short  time  before  the  vaca- 
tion, which  lasts  a  fortnight,  I  have  not  yet  given 
any  instruction.  I  have  this  time  to  prepare  myself 
for  law  and  language.  I  shall  probably  have  an  au- 
dience of  twenty-five  or  thirty  lawyers  in  Boston. 
In  the  spring  and  summer  I  shall  hold  the  same  lec- 
tures here  at  the  law  school.  I  have  already  worked 
a  good  deal ;  but,  before  this,  I  missed  my  books 
and  papers.  Yesterday  they  arrived.  I  have  found 
several  good  books  here  in  the  College  library.  But, 
on  the  whole,  my  department  is  poorly  provided. 
Something,  however,  is  to  be  procured  at  my  sug- 
gestion. Thank  Mr.  Bancroft  again  for  his  letters. 
He  enjoys  here  the  high  esteem  of  all.  Mr.  Folsom, 
the  librarian,  is  a  very  interesting  man.  He  has 
seen  the  whole  coast  of  the  Mediterranean.  He  was 
in  Naples  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  ;  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Italian  and  Modern  Greek  litera- 
ture. I  shall  go,  on  Monday  next  or  earlier,  to  Bos- 
ton. On  the  whole,  I  think  I  shall  live  here  very 
pleasantly.  A  great  advantage  is,  that  we  have  an 
excellent  reading-room,  with  a  considerable  number 
of  American  and  English  papers  and  journals  ;  —  five 
dollars  a  year.  Professor  Ticknor  wished  that  I 
should  immediately  furnish  my  lodgings,  the  hiring 
furniture  being  more  expensive.  I  could  not  accept 
his  advice,  for  reasons  which  you  know,  although  he 
very  kindly  offered  as  much  money  as  I  wanted. 
Were  my  salary  raised  one  half,  so  that  I  could  live 
with  a  wife,  I  should  like  to  remain  here,  the  social 
life  is  so  agreeable,  and  then  not  far  from  you.  I 


160  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

have  hope  that  the  people  will  wish  to  keep  me, 
especially  when  they  see  that  I  take  an  interest  in 
my  business,  and  am  of  use  to  the  institution.  There 
are  two  things  on  which  I  should  like  to  have  your 
opinion.  I  want  a  German  Reader.  Professor  Tick- 
nor  is  of  the  same  opinion  as  I,  that  we  two  should 
make  a  German  Chrestomathy,  which  might,  at  the 
same  time,  serve  as  a  sketch  of  the  history  of  Ger- 
man literature.  Professor  Ticknor  possesses,  as  you 
know,  a  very  rich  library.  If  we  add  to  this  what 
may  be  obtained  in  other  places,  we  might  furnish 
something  useful.  Ask  Mr.  Bancroft  for  his  opinion. 
The  book  must  be  such,  that  it  may  be  introduced 
into  other  institutions,  and  thus  at  least  pay  its  ex- 
penses. The  second  point  is  a  German  Grammar  in 
English.  The  Grammar  of  Rowbotham  seems  to  me 
more  useful  than  that  of  Noehden  ;  but  even  that  is 
capable  of  great  improvement.  I  know  we  have, 
before  this,  spoken  of  this  subject  ;  and  you  thought 
to  prepare  a  Grammar.  I  know  not  whether  you 
have  done  any  thing  about  it.  At  any  rate,  do  note 
every  thing  that  occurs  to  you.  I  will  do  the  same, 
and  communicate  my  observations  to  you.  Yester- 
day there  was  a  party  at  Professor  Norton's,  very 
splendid  and  elegant.  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
many  people  of  this  place  and  Boston.  I  cannot  yet 
accurately  calculate  how  much  I  expend  a  month. 
I  am  obliged  to  live  somewhat  genteelly,  and,  conse- 
quently, more  expensively  ;  but  I  see,  even  now, 
many  things  which  I  can  arrange  more  economically. 
I  should  think,  in  general,  it  is  more  expensive  to 
live  singly  than  with  a  wife." 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          161 

"  February  20th,  1826.  Here  at  last,  dear  friend, 
isxa  letter  from  our  Basle  friends.  I  am  very  busy. 
The  first  two  sheets  of  my  Reader,  with  a  Preface, 
are  already  printed  ;  and  my  pupils,  thirty  in  num- 
ber, translate  valiantly.  I  have  taken  the  extracts, 
with  the  aid  of  Professor  Ticknor  and  his  library, 
from  the  principal  authors  since  Lessing.  I  wish  I 
had  some  fables  of  Pestalozzi's.  There  is  no  extract 
from  Novalis,  because  I  have  nothing  of  him." 

"  March  5.  I  answer  your  letter  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  requesting  you,  by  your  early  visit,  to  put 
an  end  to  the  necessity  of  corresponding.  I  expect 
our  University  will  particularly  apply  to  you  on  the 
subject  of  gymnastics.  I  have  commenced  gymnas- 
tic exercises  with  the  students.  The  College  furnishes 
the  implements,  and  will  give  us  a  place.  At  present 
I  use  one  of  the  dining-halls.  All  show  much  zeal. 
In  Boston  a  gymnasium  is  soon  to  be  established. 
The  matter  will  lead  further,  probably,  than  most  at 
present  anticipate.  I  thank  you  for  sending  me  No- 
valis. I  shall  take  the  fairy  tale  of  the  Rose-leaf. 
Do  not  forget  to  bring  what  drawings  you  have,  re- 
lating to  gymnastics." 

"  May  7.    Now  something  of  importance.     J 

has   arrived  in   New  York,  where    he    found    letters 

from  Sartorius,  &c.     J ,  being   disappointed,  has 

written  to  me,  and  appealed  to  my  hospitality,  until 
he  shall  be  able  to  support  himself.  I  answered,  of 
course,  immediately,  and  begged  him  earnestly  to 
come  and  live  with  me,  having  enough  for  both  of 
14* 


162  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

us.     I  have  told  him  to  go  by  the  way  of  Northamp- 
ton and  see  you." 

u  June  23.  I  have  finished  my  course  of  lectures 
in  Boston,  and  commenced  the  preparation  of  a  Ger- 
man Grammar.  I  wish  you  to  send  me  all  the  memo- 
randa which  you  have,  and  inquire  also  of  Bode. 

"  June  29.  I  shall  come  to  you  in  the  beginning 
of  the  vacation  with  J ." 

"  September  26.  We  have  celebrated  some  beau- 
tiful days.  The  dedication  of  Divinity  Hall  procured 
us  a  glorious  sermon  from  Dr.  Channing.  We  had 
some  good  orations,  at  the  Commencement,  from  Put- 
nam, Walker,  and  Palfrey,  and,  besides  that,  beautiful 
faces  in  the  galleries.  The  following  day  was  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  day, — an  oration  from  Judge  Story,  (fin- 
ished, encyclopaedian,)  and  a  very  witty  poem  from 
Mr.  Peabody,  of  Springfield.  I  had  been  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Society  in  the  forenoon,  on  which  ac- 
count I  was  allowed  to  appear  at  dinner.  It  was  one 
of  the  finest  and  most  entertaining  I  ever  was  present 
at.  Professor  Everett  presided.  There  was  no  end 
to  the  cannonading  of  wit.  The  toasts  were  really, 
almost  without  exception,  very  good.  Thanking  the 
society  for  my  reception,  I  ventured  into  the  fields  of 
wit.  '  That  mysterious  trinity  of  Greek  letters,  which 
unites  the  members  of  our  society,  and  makes  us  at 
the  same  time  Trinitarians  and  Unitarians,'  was 
my  toast.  The  general  applause  calmed  or  rather 
drowned  my  evil  conscience  concerning  the  wit  of 
this  witticism.  I  long  for  your  October  visit  in  the 
solitude  of  my  heart." 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  163 


u 


September  26.  The  day  after  to-morrow  my 
rope-dancing  begins  in  Boston.  The  gallows  stand, 
in  significant  majesty,  on  the  spot.  There  is  no  lack 
of  gallows-birds,  large  and  small,  genteel  and  vulgar. 
I  inclose  some  letters  from  Jung." 

"  Boston,  December,  1826. 

"  So  far  wit  and  wisdom.  Now  comes  common 
stupidity.  I  cannot  come  to  you  during  this  vaca- 
tion. I  must  finish  my  Grammar  in  order  to  retain 
my  reputation  and  place.  This  is  painful  to  one, 
who,  in  his  own  unhappiness,  can  find  consolation 
only  in  the  happiness  of  his  friends." 

.  It  was  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  1826,  that  I  first 
saw  Dr.  Follen.  He  was  introduced  to  me  by  our 
mutual  friend,  Catherine  Sedgwick,  who  was  in  Bos- 
ton on  a  visit.  He  accompanied  us  and  some  other 
ladies  to  his  gymnasium,  to  see  his  class  of  boys  go 
through  their  exercises.  He  took  us,  when  we  first 
entered  the  place,  to  look  at  a  very  amusing  carica- 
ture of  his  school,  particularly  of  his  elder  pupils  and 
himself,  in  the  act  of  performing  some  of  their  most 
difficult  exercises.  "  I  have,"  he  said,  "  put  this 
up  in  my  gymnasium,  that  we,  who  are  laughed  at, 
may  have  our  fair  portion  of  the  sport."  All  of  us 
noticed  the  simple,  good-humored  dignity  of  his  man- 
ner, and  his  unaffected  enjoyment  of  a  jest  at  his 
own  expense.  The  childlike  earnestness,  the  sub- 
lime simplicity,  of  his  character  made  an  indelible 
impression  upon  me,  as  I  saw  him  then  for  the  first 


164         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

time.     He  did  not  seem  a  stranger  to  me.     I  believe 
he  never  seemed  like  a  stranger  to  a  human  soul. 

A  small  number  of  ladies,  of  whom  I  was  one, 
had  just  formed  a  little  party  to  meet  once  a  week 
for  the  purpose  of  improvement  in  the  art  of  reading 
well.  We  invited  Dr.  Follen  to  join  us.  He  gladly 
accepted  the  invitation.  At  the  first  meeting,  when 
called  upon  to  read  in  his  turn,  he  objected,  on  the 
ground  that  he  could  not  read  any  thing  in  English 
well,  without  previously  studying  it.  I  asked  him  to 
recite  a  German  poem.  No  one*  present  will  ever 
forget  his  recitation  of  Gothe's  "  Kennst  du  das 
Land,"  especially  the  tender  accents  of  his  voice  when 
repeating  the  words, 

"  Dahin  !  dahin  ! 
Mocht'  ich  mil  dir,  O  mein  Geliebter,  ziehn." 

It  was  indeed  the  cry  of  the  homesick  spirit  after 
its  father-land. 

The  following  letter,  which  he  wrote  to  his  parents 
at  this  time,  proves,  however,  that  he  began  to  feel 
himself  at  home  in  his  adopted  country. 

"  Cambridge,  December  19,  1826. 
u  MY  DEAR  PARENTS  AND   SISTERS, 
"  A  fortnight's  vacation  gives  me  the  long-desired 
time   to  write   to  you.      I  am  well,  and  my  position 
here  becomes  every  day  more  firm  and  agreeable,  in 
proportion  as  my  new  countrymen  are  assured,  that  I 
am  not  one  of  the  many  adventurers  and  impostors, 
through  whom  the   name  of  a  foreigner  has  become 
suspected  to  the  natives.     They  are  convinced,  that 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  165 

my  new  country  has  always  been  the  country  of  my 
principles  ;  that  I  know  how  to  respect  the  peculiari- 
ties of  others,  and  that  I  attach  myself  cordially  to 
good  men,  and  particularly  to  affectionate  family  cir- 
cles. It  is  now  seven  years  since  I  left  my  home, 
and  I  have  not,  during  this,  my  private  seven  years' 
war  against  the  great  powers,  entered  my  father's 
house,  to  which  I  am  bound  by  the  most  sacred  ties 
of  love  and  gratitude.  I  know  that  I  have,  through 
my  absence,  deeply  afflicted  my  dear  friends,  and  es- 
pecially you,  my  dear  father.  But  you  know,  that 
the  principles,  on  account  of  which  I,  together  with 
others,  have  been  persecuted,  and  which,  with  many 
of  my  fellow-sufferers,  may  have  been  opinions  taken 
upon  trust,  or  mere  freaks  of  an  ill-regulated  imagina- 
tion,—  that  these  principles  have  been  with  me  mat- 
ters of  conscience,  and  the  results  of  laborious  thought 
and  study.  Hence,  there  is  in  this  country,  where 
law  alone  governs,  no  more  quiet  citizen  than  I.  I 
should  have  lost  my  self-respect,  and  deserved  the 
contempt  of  my  adversaries,  had  I  acted  according  to 
their  principles.  Hence,  in  the  storms  of  misfortune, 
as  well  as  in  those  of  the  ocean,  the  infallible  magnet 
in  my  breast  has  never  wavered,  but  remained  fixed 
as  the  polar  star  to  which  it  points.  And  I  am  con- 
vinced, that  even  you,  dear  father,  will  forget  the 
pain  of  separation,  as  soon  as  you  know  that  it  is  well 
with  your  children,  though  they  are  far  from  you  ; 
and  especially  when  you  see  that  we  have  preserved 
your  image  true  and  pure ;  preserved  in  us,  bright  and 
true,  the  image  of  rectitude,  which  you  placed  before 
us  from  childhood,  your  own  image." 


166  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

Here  follows  an  account  of  his  gymnasia  in  Cam- 
bridge and  Boston,  which  need  not  be  repeated  ;  and 
he  goes  on.  "  The  mass  of  the  people  are  here  far 
better  instructed  than  in  any  part  of  Europe  with 
which  I  am  acquainted.  Our  German  emigrants, 
who  settle  in  Pennsylvania,  with  the  Irish,  who 
commonly  find  employment  on  the  high  roads  and 
canals,  and  as  servants,  are  most  uncivilized,  but  are, 
nevertheless,  highly  esteemed  ;  the  first,  as  industri- 
ous cultivators  of  the  soil  ;  the  last,  as  day-laborers 
and  servants.  Many  of  them,  that  is,  of  the  Ger- 
mans (for  the  Irish  soon  get  rid  of  their  earnings), 
rise  by  their  industry  to  the  station  of  respectable 
citizens,  and  most  of  them  are  prosperous,  and  frugal, 
though  hospitable.  But  they  have  not  the  smallest 
inclination  to  give  their  children  a  better  education, 
and  are  even  strengthened  in  this  by  their  clergy, 
generally  ignorant  fanatics  (with  many  honorable  ex- 
ceptions), who  are  inclined  to  put  down  every  at- 
tempt to  open  their  minds,  lest  thus  heresy  should  be 
introduced.  This  is  the  state  of  things  in  the  Ger- 
man villages.  The  German  mechanics  and  traders, 
who  come  here,  succeed  tolerably  well,  for  the  most 
part,  but  they  spoil  every  thing  with  the  inhabitants, 
because  they  foolishly  criticize  every  thing  in  this 
country,  and  pretend,  that  they  have  been  great  gen- 
tlemen at  home.  This  is  still  more  disgusting  in 
the  French,  who  find  fault  with  every  thing  merely 
because  it  is  not  French  ;  so  that  I  often  have  occa- 
sion to  wonder  at  the  good-nature  of  the  people,  who 
do  not  fail,  notwithstanding  their  rudeness,  to  ac- 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  167 

knowledge  and  respect  the  good  qualities  of  those 
who  blame  and  ridicule  them,  at  the  same  time  that 
they  find  among  them  liberty  and  support. 

"  In  learned  men  and  literary  institutions,  they  are 
far  behind  the  Germans,  though  the  progress  of  the 
people  since  their  independence  (a  period  of  fifty 
years)  is  inconceivably  great. 

"  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  arts  in  general  ; 
though  painting  here  in  Boston  has  produced  works 
of  great  value  ;  and  in  the  belles-lettres  some  excel- 
lent things  have  appeared.  One  art,  however,  is  here 
in  greater  perfection  than  elsewhere,  that  of  elo- 
quence. I  know,  indeed,  no  higher  intellectual  en- 
joyment, than  to  listen  to  a  political  discourse  of 
Webster  or  Everett,  or  a  sermon  from  Channing. 
This  last,  the  most  distinguished  preacher  in  the 
United  States,  stands  at  the  head  of  the  Unitarians, 
that  is,  of  that  religious  sect,  who  regard  Christ  as  a 
divinely  inspired,  perfect  man,  and  who  reject  the 
Trinity.  To  this  doctrine  belong  the  best  informed 
men  of  this  State  ;  and  it  was  very  delightful  to 
Dr.  Channing  to  learn  through  me,  that  a  great  number 
of  German  Lutherans  thought  with  him.  I  have  had 
much  conversation  with  him,  especially  on  philosophi- 
cal subjects,  and  we  agree  about  them  in  all  essential 
particulars.  He  is,  besides,  my  very  warm  friend,  and 
the  firmest  spiritual  stay  and  staff  which  I  have  here. 

"  Religion  and  the  church  are  far  more  important 
in  New  England  than  in  Europe,  although  the  State 
has  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  them,  and  a  society 
of  atheists  or  idolaters  could  exist  here  with  as  much 


168  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

security  as  any  Christian  sect.  Each  sect  maintains 
its  churches  and  its  ministers,  if  it  has  them,  (the 
Quakers,  for  example,  have  none,)  and  regulates  its 
affairs  without  the  State's  having  the  smallest  influ- 
ence, or  the  religious  faith  of  the  individual  affecting 
at  all  his  position  in  regard  to  civil  rights.  Never- 
theless, there  is  scarcely  one  now  among  a  thousand  to 
be  found,  who  does  not  go  to  church  twice  on  the  Sun- 
day, and  who,  even  if  in  other  respects  a  miser,  does 
not  contribute  richly  to  the  maintenance  of  the  clergy, 
and  to  ecclesiastical  institutions.  Even  those,  who 
are  not  religious  in  heart,  feel,  that,  in  a  social  organi- 
zation like  this,  the  bonds  of  order,  which  are  formed 
in  other  States  by  outward  force,  must  consist  in  the 
hearts  and  the  motives  of  men.  The  tone  of  socie- 
ty, is,  in  this  view,  extremely  strict.  Oaths  and 
curses,  whether  good  or  evil  spirits  are  invoked,  ex- 
clude one  from  good  society  ;  so  does  the  most  re- 
mote double  entendre  in  the  presence  of  women. 
Respect  for  females  is  a  fixed  article  of  faith.  I  have 
never  yet  heard  the  slightest  expression,  which  did 
not  manifest  great  regard  to  them.  A  number  of 
men  rise  as  soon  as  a  lady  enters,  and  each  one  offers 
his  seat,  whether  in  private  society,  or  the  theatre,  or 
in  church.  Women  and  clergymen  are  most  honored. 
The  greatest  influence,  however,  on  the  whole,  is 
exercised  by  lawyers  and  by  rich  merchants. 

"  I  have  been  carried  away  so  far  by  my  love  of 
description,  that  I  have  not  yet  thanked  you,  dear 
parents  and  sisters,  for  your  affectionate  letters,  which 
I  received  this  summer.  The  whole  dear  Giessen 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN.         169 

home,  now  transferred  to  Friedberg,  stands  before 
my  soul.  It  does  my  heart  good  to  have  a  sign  of 
life  from  each  of  the  family  circle,  father,  mother, 

sisters,  and   relatives  in  re  et  spe.     But  from 

I  have  seen  nothing  for  years.  If  he  is  withheld  by 
my  former  political  relations,  I  would  remark,  that, 
since  I  became  a  citizen  here,  I  have  publicly  re- 
nounced, under  oath,  all  further  connexion  with  for- 
eign governments.  Therefore  I  am,  as  to  Europe, 
politically  dead,  and  continue  to  live  only  for  my 
family.  The  hatred  against  the  governments  on  the 
other  side,  which  I  brought  on  board  ship,  has  changed 
into  entire  indifference  ;  and  I  only  wish  that  my 
persecutors  would  allow  me  the  blessing  of  their  for- 
getfulness." 

[There  follow  here  pleasant  reminiscences  of  his 
youth  and  of  Giessen  ;  then,  a  request  for  his  certifi- 
cate of  baptism,  and  for  an  impression  of  the  family 
seal.] 

"  What  you  say,  dear  father,  of  our  reunion,  one 
day,  in  that  world,  is  as  if  written  from  my  heart,  and 
has  more  certainty  to  me,  than  all  which  our  five 
animal  senses  represent  to  us  as  true.  But  what  you 
write  about  the  not  meeting  in  this  world,  I  cannot 
agree  to,  and  shall  take  it  upon  myself,  at  the  right 
time,  to  present  you  with  a  proof  to  the  contrary. 

"  God  preserve  to  you,  dear  father,  the  two  good 
eyes  with  which  you  write  me  such  affectionate  let- 
ters, and  put  to  shame  even  my  caligraphy.  I  greet 
you  all  from  rny  whole  heart,  father,  mother,  sisters, 
and  friends.  Your  faithful  CHARLES." 

VOL.  i.  15 


170  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

Very  soon  after  our  acquaintance  commenced, 
Dr.  Follen  informed  me  of  his  engagement  in  Ger- 
many, and  told  me  of  his  hope,  that,  as  soon  as  he 
had  some  adequate  means  of  support  for  a  wife,  the 
lady  would  follow  him  to  this  country. 

The  reading  parties,  which  he  had  joined,  were 
not  only  a  great  enjoyment  to  him,  on  account  of  their 
truly  social  character  and  of  the  agreeahle  people 
whom  he  met  at  them,  but  he  thought  them  very  use- 
ful to  him  as  a  means  of  acquiring  a  more  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  language,  and  a  nicer  pronunciation. 
He  made  some  attempts,  this  winter,  at  writing  Eng- 
lish verse.  One  specimen  only  of  these  efforts  re- 
mains in  existence.  He  brought  it  to  me,  and  asked 
me  to  correct  it ;  but  I  preferred  leaving  it  as  it  was, 
even  had  I  been  able  to  improve  it. 

The  idea  was  excited  in  his  mind,  he  said,  by  the 
recollection  of  a  visit  he  made  one  morning,  very 
early,  to  a  little  chapel  in  Switzerland.  He  saw 
there  some  one  who  was  deeply  moved  by  devotional 
feeling,  and  in  whose  tearful  eyes,  as  they  were  raised 
to  heaven,  the  light  of  the  early  morning  was  reflect- 
ed. When  he  came  out  of  the  chapel,  he  was  struck 
with  the  glowing  light  of  the  rising  sun  upon  the  dew- 
drops  on  the  flowers.  The  beautiful  images,  that 
had  been  awakened  in  his  mind  within  and  outside 
of  the  chapel,  still  lived  in  his  memory,  and  he  en- 
deavoured to  embody  them  in  verse.  I  feel  assured, 
that  these  lines  will  be  read  with  interest. 

"  Sweet  in  the  floweret's  cup, 
Sparkles  the  sky-born  drop; 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  171 

Smiling  in  tears  of  bliss, 

Nature  imbibes  heaven's  morning  kiss. 

Thus,  when  emotion 

Lights  the  pure  eye, 

Tears  of  devotion 

Speak  God  is  nigh  ; 

Heaven  on  earth  impressing, 

Shines  in  the  eye  God's  blessing." 


CHAPTER    X. 


Teachers'  Meetings  at  Dr.  Channing's.  —  Dr.  Follen  resolves  to 
enter  the  Ministry. —  He  studies  Divinity  with  Dr.  Channing. 
—  Correspondence  with  Dr.  Channing.  —  He  resigns  the  Care 
of  the  Gymnasium  in  Boston.  —  Extracts  from  his  Journal. 

DURING  this  winter  (the  latter  part  of  the  year 
1826,  and  the  early  part  of  1827,)  the  teachers 
of  the  Sunday  School  in  the  Rev.  Dr.  Chan- 
ning's church  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  in  his 
study,  once  a  fortnight,  to  discuss  with  him  and  each 
other  the  subject  of  religious  education.  Each  one 
was  desired  by  him  to  invite  any  friend  to  join  them, 
who  was  interested  in  the  subject,  and  would  take  a 
part  in  the  discussion.  I  was  one  of  the  teachers, 
and  invited  Dr.  Follen  to  make  one  of  our  happy  and 
truly  privileged  company.  This  was  his  first  intro- 
duction to  Dr.  Channing,  and  was  the  commence- 
ment of  a  friendship  which  has  had  no  change,  and 
can  have  no  end. 

Dr.  Follen  was,  as  may  be  supposed,  a  great  ac- 
quisition to  our  meetings.  His  free  and  independent 
thought,  and  his  frank  and  fearless  expression  of  his 
opinions,  encouraged  others  to  think  and  to  speak 
freely  ;  while  his  unaffected  respect  for  the  views 
of  others,  and  the  place  of  a  learner,  which  his 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  173 

modesty  always  led  him  to  take  for  himself,  made 
him  the  model  for  all.  When  he  spoke  of  spiritual 
realities,  of  his  faith  in  a  future  life,  every  one  felt 
that  he  spoke  of  what  he  believed,  and  that  immor- 
tality had  already  commenced  in  him. 

One  evening,  after  we  had  been  at  one  of  these 
never  to  be  forgotten  conversations,  I  said  to  him, 
u  Why  do  you  not  become  a  preacher  ?  "  "  O,  I 
am  not  sufficiently  fitted  for  such  a  great  work,"  he 
replied,  "  though  it  would  be  my  highest  ambition." 
"  Why  not  begin  now,  and  prepare  yourself  for  the 
ministry  ?.  I  think  it  is  your  true  mission."  "  I 
have  thought  so  myself,"  he  replied,  "  and  my  early 
studies  in  Germany  were  a  preparation.  But  do  you 
think,  that  I,  a  foreigner,  could  ever  venture  to 
preach  in  English  ?  "  I  told  him,  that  I  thought  his 
English  was  better  than  ours,  and  urged  him  to 
promise,  that  he  would  devote  himself  to  the  min- 
istry. "  I  cannot  promise,"  he  said,  "  though  it 
is  what  I  should  most  desire  ;  but  I  will  think  se- 
riously of  it,  and  tell  you  as  soon  as  I  have  made 
up  rny  mind." 

When  I  met  him,  a  week  afterwards,  I  said,  "  Is 
it  yes  or  no  ?"  "Yes,"  he  replied,  with  a  solemn 
and  holy,  yet  joyful  earnestness,  that  seemed  like  a 
true  consecration  of  himself  to  the  work.  He  im- 
mediately made  known  his  determination  to  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  and  begged  him  to  allow  him  to  commence  his 
preparatory  studies  with  him.  His  thorough  educa- 
tion in  his  own  country,  and  his  theological  studies  in 
Giessen,  made  the  labor  of  fitting  himself  for  the 
15* 


174  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ministry  here,  comparatively  easy.  Dr.  Charming 
aided  him  greatly  by  his  sympathy  and  friendly  coun- 
sel. The  blessing,  that  his  friendship  was  to  him, 
will  be  best  shown  by  the  following  letters,  which 
passed  between  them  in  the  summer  of  1827. 

"  JVew  York,  May  24,  1827. 
"  Mr  DEAR  SIR, 

"  1  presume  you  have  heard  of  the  death  of  your 
compatriot  and  friend  Dr.  Bardili.  The  circum- 
stances of  it  were  very  affecting.  Last  Friday  morn- 
ing he  called  to  see  me,  and  spent  an  hour  with  me. 
He  seemed  to  be  well,  as  I  understand,  through  the 
day,  and  had  made  an  engagement  to  meet  a  friend 
of  mine  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  But  at  nine 
some  person,  entering  his  room,  found  him  dead. 
He  died,  probably,  of  apoplexy.  In  the  morning  he 
talked  freely,  though  he  did  not  seem  very  cheerful. 
He  told  me,  that  he  intended  to  return  to  his  own 
country  in  about  three  months,  and  should  probably 
become  a  minister.  We  will  hope,  that  he  has  gone 
to  offer  worship  in  a  higher  temple.  Sudden  death 
is  always  solemn.  In  the  present  case,  it  may  be 
considered  as  a  kinder  mode  of  removal  than  a  linger- 
ing sickness  would  have  been.  He  was  a  stranger, 
and  would  have  wanted  the  comforts  of  a  home,  and 
those  offices  of  domestic  love,  which,  in  a  sick  and 
dying  room,  are  worth  more  than  the  homage  of  the 
world.  This  event  may  be  used  by  us  to  confirm  in 
us  that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  of  which  we  have  so 
often  spoken.  When  we  see  what  a  vapor  life  is, 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  175 

how  suddenly  dissolved,  we  should  dismiss  our  anxie- 
ty about  prolonging  it,  and  count  that  man  the  most 
privileged,  who,  instead  of  wasting  it  in  efforts  to  es- 
cape its  end,  offers  it  up  freely  in  the  cause  of  God 
and  man,  of  freedom  and  religion.  I  owe  to  you 
some  interesting  views  on  this  subject,  and  hope  to 
renew  our  conversation  on  my  return. 

"  I  shall  leave  this  city  soon,  and  shall  probably 
go  to  Rhode  Island,  after  a  short  excursion  in  the 
western  parts  of  this  State.  When  I  am  settled,  I 
shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  you. 

"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"  WM.  E.  CHANNING." 

"  Cambridge,  July  1,  1827. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Your  return  to  Newport  affords  rne  the  long- 
desired  opportunity  of  writing  to  you.  I  rejoice,  with 
all  your  friends  in  this  vicinity,  in  knowing  you  are 
near  us  again  ;  and  I  hope,  that  your  journey  may 
have  been  as  beneficial  to  your  health  and  spirits,  as 
it  certainly  has  been  to  the  spiritual  health  of  those, 
who,  on  your  way,  received  from  you  the  blessings 
of  Christian  light  and  love. 

"  I  heartily  thank  you,  dear  Sir,  for  your  kind  let- 
ter from  New  York.  I  was  glad,  that  the  sorrowful 
tidings  it  confirmed  were  thus  conveyed  to  me  from  a 
quarter  to  which  I  am  indebted,  and  am  constantly 
looking  up,  for  that  spiritual  sunshine,  which  breaks 
through  every  cloud  arising  from  earthly  sorrow,  and 
turns  all  gloom  into  brightness. 


176  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  The  circumstance  you  mention  in  your  letter, 
that  my  deceased  friend  had  the  intention  of  returning, 
in  a  short  time,  to  his  own  country,  there  to  become 
a  minister  of  Christ,  was  new  to  me.  His  desire  is 
now  fulfilled,  and  in  a  more  perfect  way  than  he  him- 
self could  have  accomplished  it.  For  the  Father  of 
all,  whose  eye  is  upon  his  children  everywhere,  and 
preserves  them  their  birthright  in  heaven  while  they 
are  naturalized  on  earth,  has  called  back  the  home- 
sick spirit  to  his  own  country,  where  he,  as  I  trust 
with  you,  is  now  offering  worship  in  a  higher  temple. 

"  It  is  gratifying  to  my  feelings  that  my  friend,  be- 
fore his  death,  has  seen  you,  and  beheld  in  your 
eyes  the  reflection  of  that  look  of  love  which  was 
soon  to  welcome  him  in  heaven.  There,  in  a  wider 
sphere  of  exertion  and  enjoyment,  I  hope  to  meet 
him  again,  with  many  of  those  most  privileged  of  men, 
who,  c  instead  of  wasting  their  life  in  efforts  to  escape 
its  end,  have  offered  it  up  freely  in  the  cause  of  God 
and  man,  of  freedom  and  religion.'  I  hope  to  meet 
him  there,  if  my  exertions  do  not  fall  short  of  my  ar- 
dent desire  to  keep,  as  Milton  says,  in  tune  with 
heaven.  And  in  this  respect  I  owe  to  you,  my  most 
excellent  friend,  much  more  than  I  am  capable  of 
expressing.  At  the  time  when  I  became  acquainted 
with  you,  the  shares  I  once  held  in  the  bright  land 
of  hope  and  lofty  enterprise  had  sunk  in  my  own  esti- 
mation. The  bitter  recollection  of  former  disappoint- 
ment, together  with  the  insignificance  of  my  late  oc- 
cupations, checked  the  best  impulses,  and  operated 
on  my  depressed  spirits  like  an  evil  prophecy  on  a 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  177 

superstitious  mind.  But  you,  you  have  straightened 
the  slack  cords  of  my  heart,  and  tuned  it  again  for 
the  inspiration  of  heaven. 

"  There  are  several  theological  subjects  concern- 
ing which  I  desire  your  opinion  and  advice.  But  my 
mind  is  now  unfortunately  so  much  distracted  with 
different  occupations,  that  all  my  attempts  at  writing 
down  a  series  of  thoughts  prove  unsuccessful.  Yet, 
while  the  minor  faculties  of  the  mind  are  engaged  in 
transitory  pursuits,  the  deepest  and  fondest  exertions 
of  my  soul  are  directed  to  that  universal  Mind,  which 
is  revealed  in  the  creation  and  in  the  highest  results  of 
inspired  wisdom.  The  more  my  mind  presses  on  to- 
wards that  all-seeing  Light,  so  much  the  more  its 
warmth  expands  and  attracts  my  heart,  as  if  to  assure 
me,  that  wisdom  and  love,  as  well  as  light  and 
warmth,  flow  from  the  same  eternal  Source. 

"  Our  next  college  vacation  begins  about  the  middle 
of  this  month,  and  continues  to  the  end  of  August. 
I  wish  to  employ  this  time  principally  in  the  study  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  writing  down,  in  a  series 
of  lectures,  my  ideas  on  religion,  moral  and  rational 
law.  For  this  purpose,  I  need  and  request  your 
kind  assistance  ;  and  if  you  are  not  averse  to  having 
near  you  a  greedy  pupil,  who  threatens  to  encroach 
on  your  spare  hours,  I  should  take  lodgings  near 
yours,  at  Newport,  about  the  beginning  of  next 
month.  • 

"  Your  friend, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


178  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Portsmouth,  (R.  /.)  July  17,  1827. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  letter.  It  was,  of 
course,  gratifying  to  me.  To  know  that  I  have  con- 
tributed at  all  to  the  peace  or  progress  of  such  a 
mind  as  yours,  is  a  great  happiness.  I  wish  you  to 
feel,  that  you  have  paid  your  debt.  My  interviews 
with  you  have  been  highly  interesting  ;  and  I  owe  to 
them  views  and  impressions,  which  have  quickened 
and  enriched  my  mind. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to  see  you  and  have  you  for  a 
neighbour.  You  must  prepare  yourself  for  a  very 
quiet  way  of  living.  The  country  here  is  undisturbed 
by  the  movements  which  give  what  is  called  anima- 
tion to  the  neighbourhood  of  a  large  city.  I  have 
obtained  lodgings  for  you  at  a  comfortable  inn  a  few 
steps  from  me.  I  am  quite  at  leisure,  and  shall  be 
truly  gratified  to  see  you.  We  have  pleasant  walks 
and  drives,  and  we  shall  be  able  to  exercise  as  well  as 
sit  together. 

"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"  W.  E.  CHANNING." 

After  having  first  paid  a  short  visit  to  his  friend  Dr. 
Beck,  Dr.  Follen  went  to  Newport,  and  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  vacation  at  the  lodgings  engaged 
for  him  by  Dr.  Channing,  and  in  the  enjoyment 
of  his  society.  He  studied  faithfully.  The  lec- 
tures he  did  not  complete  ;  but  he  made  copious 
notes  upon  the  New  Testament  for  this  purpose,  and 
upon  the  different  works  which  he  was  reading.  He 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  179 

has  often  spoken  to  me  of  the  high  enjoyment  he  de- 
rived from  the  free,  intimate  communion  he  had  this 
summer  with  his  friend  Dr.  Channing.  The  highest 
and  holiest  subjects  were  the  themes  of  their  conver- 
sation. They  often  took  very  different  views.  But 
as  truth,  not  victory,  was  ever  their  object,  their  dif- 
ferences of  opinion  served  only  to  shed  more  light 
upon  the  mind  of  each,  and  to  add  another  charm  to 
their  affectionate  and  happy  intercourse. 

I  find  among  his  papers  the  copy  of  a  note  which 
he  wrote,  this  summer,  to  accompany  a  copy  of 
"  Hope  Leslie,"  which  he  sent  to  a  friend.  It  seems 
to  me  worthy  of  a  place  here. 

"  To  MRS. , 

"  Allow  me,  dear  Madam,  to  introduce  an  orphan 
girl,  in  a  plain  pilgrim's  dress,  to  the  family  of  your 
favorite  books.  The  child,  who  wishes  to  be  adopt- 
ed by  you,  is  called  '  Hope  Leslie.'  This  name 
was  given  to  her  when  she  was  baptized  with  the 
water  of  the  English  establishment.  But  the  most 
interesting  traits  in  her  character  seem  to  spring  from 
a  baptism  of  the  great  Spirit.  Accordingly,  those 
friends  of  the  child,  who  are  less  inclined  to  refer  to 
the  water,  than  to  the  spirit  which  moves  upon  it, 
might  prefer  to  have  her  called  Magawisca." 

Previously  to  his  visit  to  Newport,  Dr.  Follen  had 
resigned  his  superintendence  of  the  Boston  Gymna- 
sium. The  committee  expressed  their  sense  of  the 
value  of  his  services,  and  their  regret  at  losing  them, 


180  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

in  a  very  kind  letter,  to  which  he  sent  the  following 
reply. 

"  To 

"  Cambridge,  July  3,  1827. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  The  letter,  in  which  the  Committee  of  the  Pu- 
pils of  the  Boston  Gymnasium  have  expressed  the 
kind  feelings  of  these  gentlemen  toward  me,  has  filled 
me  with  uncommon  pleasure.  The  impressions  I  re- 
tain of  this  institution,  after  having  resigned  the  charge 
of  it  to  abler  hands,  are  among  the  most  pleasant 
recollections  of  my  life.  I  shall  always  rejoice  in 
remembering  the  truly  patriotic  views,  to  which  the 
Boston  Gymnasium  owes  its  existence,  and  the  ef- 
ficient zeal  with  which  these  exercises  have  been 
carried  on,  and  which  even  the  severest  temperature 
of  last  winter  could  never  depress  to  zero.  That 
healthy  atmosphere  of  the  mind,  a  cheerful  mood  and 
kind  feelings,  which  reigned  in  the  Gymnasium,  add- 
ed the  charms  of  good  society  to  the  advantages 
which  each  individual  derived  from  the  exercises. 
Moreover,  the  pleasure  of  seeing  similar  and  partly 
filial  institutions  springing  up  in  other  cities,  seemed 
to  justify  the  hope,  that  gymnastic  exercises  would 
be  generally  adopted  as  a  regular  branch  of  education, 
and  as  a  source  of  health,  strength,  and  gracefulness, 
particularly  to  those  persons,  whose  condition  of  life 
is  such  as  to  induce  them  to  neglect  the  cultivation 
of  their  physical  powers. 

"  Besides   these  general   grounds   of  satisfaction, 


• 

LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  181 

which  I  have  in  common  with  all  the  gentlemen  be- 
longing to  the  Gymnasium,  I  have  many  particular 
reasons  for  cherishing  the  recollection  of  the  services 
I  rendered  to  this  institution.  The  Gymnasium  has 
afforded  me  an  opportunity  of  forming  many  ac- 
quaintances, which  I  trust  will  continue  independent 
of  it.  As  an  instructor,  I  succeeded  in  obtaining 
(perhaps  too  soon),  that  which  I  consider  the  most 
desirable  result  of  all  teaching,  a  number  of  pupils 
far  surpassing  their  master ;  and  at  the  end  of  my  ser- 
vices I  see  them  acknowledged  in  a  manner,  for 
which  I  find  an  adequate  cause,  not  so  much  in  my 
own  actions,  as  in  the  kindness  of  those  who  are  wil- 
ling to  take  my  good  intention  for  the  intended  action. 

"  I  sincerely  wish  and  hope,  that  the  Gymnasium 
may  continue  a  benefit  to  this  enlightened  city,  and 
that  its  branches  may  spread  over  all  this  free  and 
happy  land,  which  my  principles  lead  me  to  consider 
as  my  country,  while  the  kindness  of  its  inhabitants 
makes  me  embrace  it  as  my  home. 

"  Be  so  kind,  dear  Sir,  as  to  present  to  the  com- 
mittee, and  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  Gymnasium, 
whose  teacher  I  have  had  the  honor  to  be,  my  sincere 
thanks  for  the  expression  of  their  kind  feelings  to- 
wards me,  and  accept  the  assurance  of  the  high  con- 
sideration with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  dear 
Sir, 

"  Your  servant  and  friend, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

All   his   leisure    hours    Dr.  Follen    devoted   most 
VOL.  i.  16 


182  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

assiduously  to  the  study  of  his  profession,  which  was, 
in  fact,  a  renewal  of  his  early  studies  in  Germany. 
The  Bible  in  English  seemed,  he  said,  almost  like 
a  new  book  to  him.  It  was  divested  of  all  the  disa- 
greeable associations  and  belittling  recollections,  which 
still  clung  around  it  in  his  own  language,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  being  forced  sometimes,  by  his  grand- 
parents, to  read  it  to  them  as  a  task.  But  in  English  it 
was  to  him  like  a  new  revelation.  He  was  often  so 
much  affected  by  some  passages  in  it,  that  he  found 
it  difficult  to  speak.  It  was  a  common  remark  of 
those  who  heard  him  read  it  in  the  pulpit,  that  they 
had  never  understood  and  felt  the  full  power  and 
beauty  of  the  Bible  till  they  heard  him  read  it. 

In  the  November  of  this  year  (1827),  Dr.  Fol- 
len  commenced  a  diary  in  English,  in  which  he  noted 
down  every  thing  that  passed  which  interested  him. 
His  circle  of  acquaintance  was  then  large.  The 
meetings  at  Dr.  Channing's,  and  the  reading  par- 
ties, were  continued  this  winter ;  and  the  journal 
contains  faithful  records  of  many  of  the  conversations 
in  which  he  took  part,  as  well  as  his  opinions  of 
many  individuals.  Much  is  too  personal  to  be  print- 
ed. I  give  some  extracts  from  it,  which  I  have 
thought  not  liable  to  this  objection. 

"  Cambridge,  1827. 

"  November  5.  At  tea  I  had  a  conversation  with 
Dr.  Ware  on  this  peculiar  quality  in  human  nature, 
that  a  man  sees  with  much  less  displeasure  opinions 
and  tendencies  which  are  directly  opposed  to  his 


LIFE    OP*    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  183 

own,  than  those  which  deviate  too  little  from  his 
views  to  be  considered  adverse,  and  yet  vary  so 
much  as  to  oblige  one  to  view  them  as  foreign.  I 
quoted  the  phenomenon,  that  heretics,  in  the  early 
Christian  history,  had  been  persecuted  by  church  and 
state  with  much  more  acrimony  and  violence,  than 
the  Jews  and  heathens.  He  mentioned  the  mission- 
aries in  Calcutta  evincing  much  more  dissatisfaction 
and  opposition  towards  the  Unitarians,  than  towards 
the  Hindoos.  Feuds  in  families  ;  brothers  not  speak- 
ing to  each  other  ;  civil  wars.  Dr.  Ware  thought 
the  reason  of  this,  in  a  great  measure,  lay  in  the  per- 
suasion, that  men  are  inclined  to  ascribe  wilfulness  lo 
those  who  dissent  but  little,  as  they  must  know  bet- 
ter, having  so  many  other  contiguous  views  in  com- 
mon with  us  ;  while  we  are  more  apt  to  make  al- 
lowance for  those  who  are  entirely  opposed  to  us,  as 
they  want  all  those  preparatory  views  which  would 
lead  them  to  conformity  with  ours. 

"  Grater  remarked,  that  the  passionate  mood  of 
mind,  under  these  circumstances,  is  owing  to  the  in- 
terest we  take  in  persons  with  whom  we  agree,  or  are 
connected,  in  many  respects.  This  passion  could  not 
be  excited  in  us  by  a  dissension  with  persons  who  are 
indifferent  to  us,  and  separated  in  all  other  respects. 

"  1  believe  that  disappointment,  too,  has  a  share 
in  our  feelings.  We  are  disappointed  in  our  confi- 
dence, our  expectation,  that  persons,  who  have  so 
much  in  common  with  us,  will  not  differ  from  us  in 
any  respect.  Then  we  hate  all  that  is  not  whole, 
not  consistent  ;  and  we  are  naturally  inclined  to  con- 


184  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

sider  every  such  discrepancy  as  an  inconsistency  and 
imperfection  ;  frequently  mixed  with  the  suspicion  of 
undue  regard  to  circumstances,  and  of  cowardice.  In 
opposing  a  common  adversary,  an  ally,  who  does  not 
wholly  embrace  our  cause,  is  often  more  to  be  feared 
than  the  adversary  himself. 

"  6th.  Dined  at  Mr.  Coolidge's.  Showed  me  a 
writing-desk,  very  ingeniously  contrived  for  travel- 
ling, by  the  grandfather  of  his  wife,  Thomas  Jefferson, 
who  has  fixed  a  little  note  to  it,  testifying  that  this 
is  the  desk  upon  which  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence was  written.  He  also  showed  me  a  chair  in  his 
library,  contrived  by  Jefferson,  so  that  it  serves  at  the 
same  time  as  a  little  stair-case  for  taking  down  books, 
and  as  a  chair  with  a  table  to  place  either  a  large  or 
small  book  upon.  We  conversed  about  the  moral- 
ity of  concealing  circumstances  which  may  influence 
a  bargain,  and  the  difficulty  of  drawing  a  line  between 
lawful  and  unlawful  concealment. 

"  I  rode  back  to  Cambridge,  and  after  tea  went  in 
again  to  Dr.  Channing's.  We  spoke  about  the  phrase, 
'  in  the  name  of  Christ,'  and  similar  expressions. 
He  agreed  with  me  that  they  are  ambiguous  ;  they 
may  signify  either,  upon  the  authority  of  Christ,  in 
his  spirit,  in  such  a  manner  as  Christ  was  heard,  (tak- 
ing him  as  an  encouraging  example,)  or  because  we 
think  that,  in  addressing  our  prayers  in  his  name,  he 
will  be  our  advocate,  and  ask  the  Father  to  hear  us  ; 
or,  in  the  rude  sense,  that  the  mere  expression  of  the 
name  will  produce  an  influence. 

"  We  spoke  of  the  old  doctrine  of  Christ's  asking 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  185 

favors  for  his  followers,  of  the  Father  ;  I  insisted  up- 
on the  distinction  between  the  agency  of  created  be- 
ings, and  the  direct  agency  of  God.  It  is  very  im- 
portant for  our  destination,  that  in  some  measure  it 
depends  on  other  beings  ;  their  good  or  bad  influence 
is  a  necessary  means  of  developing  our  own  powers, 
and  forming  our  characters.  The  direct  Divine  agen- 
cy is  supplementary,  that,  whenever  an  individual  does 
not  find  in  the  circumstances  of  his  present  life  the 
means  of  his  improvement,  he  is  sure  of  having  them 
supplied  to  him  by  Divine  Providence.  This  direct, 
or  supplementary  agency  of  God,  cannot  depend  on 
any  being's  praying  or  not  praying  for  us,  which  would 
suppose  injustice  toward  those  who  have  no  such  in- 
terceding friends  ;  a  kind  of  spiritual  despotism. 

"  We  then  spoke  of  the  new  system  of  punish- 
ment in  Pennsylvania,  and  of  other  States  giving  up 
their  old  system.  The  object  of  the  punishment 
shall  be  to  make  the  evil-doer  an  example  for  others  ; 
while  the  old  method,  which  was  so  much  praised  in 
Europe,  had  the  correction  of  the  prisoner  for  its  ob- 
ject. Pamphlet  of  Mr.  Roscoe  on  Penitentiary  Dis- 
cipline. Revenge,  self-defence,  punishment.  Com- 
mutation of  punishment  and  pardoning  ;  or  rather 
mending  the  law  in  a  particular  case  where  it  is  un- 
just, and  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  accused,  or  the 
convict.  The  barbarous  notion  of  exemplary  punish- 
ment, making  one  individual  the  instrument  of  others, 
and  presenting  no  way  of  adjusting  the  evil  to  the 
guilt,  given  up  by  moral  philosophers  for  humanity, 
but  still  retained  by  theologians  for  God.  Pardoning, 
16* 


186  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

introduced  on  account  of  the  imperfection  of  human 
laws,  is  attributed  to  God  with  respect  to  divine  laws. 
Only  the  declaration  and  prompt  execution  of  the  laws 
in  general  operates  as  it  ought  upon  the  community  ; 
while  they  sympathize  with  the  individual,  if  he  is 
made  the  instrument  of  deterring  others.  This  sys- 
tem, in  its  perfection,  requires  death  and  torments. 

"  We  say  the  happiness  of  the  greatest  number  is 
the  end  of  social  institutions.  But  we  ought  to  say, 
the  happiness  of  each  individual,  if  possible,  and,  if 
not,  the  happiness  of  as  many  as  possible  ;  every  indi- 
vidual must  be  considered  the  object  of  God's  care. 

"  Sth.  Conversation  with  Grater,  about  moral 
liberty  and  dependence.  He  thinks  we  are  free, 
in  a  practical  point  of  view,  when  we  regard  noth- 
ing but  the  commandments  of  our  conscience, — our 
duty.  But  we  are  not  free  in, a  contemplative  point 
of  view,  considering  ourselves  as  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

"  I  did  not  succeed  in  convincing  him,  that  this 
practical  point  of  view  is  but  one  part  of  our  knowl- 
edge in  general,  and  our  relation  to  God  another  part  ; 
and  that  these  two  parts  could  not  contradict  each 
other,  taking  them  simply  or  in  relation  to  the  whole. 
This  would  destroy  the  unity  of  our  consciousness, 
as  it  implies  the  absurdity  of  considering  as  true  two 
ideas,  one  of  which  contradicts  the  other,  —  Kant's 
antinomy.  Fries  (and  De  Wette)  making  a  similar 
distinction  between  knowledge  through  conceptions 
and  ideas,  about  which  opinion  I  had  so  many  warm 
contests  with  Fries. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  187 

"  10th.     Visit  to  Miss  R .      She  said  that  she 

did  not  believe  in  what   is    called    particular    Provi- 
dence, and  that  Dr.  agreed   that  many    events, 

which  we  usually  ascribe  to  Providence,  do  not  hap- 
pen according  to  particular  appointment,  but  to  gen- 
eral laws  of  nature.  But,  with  respect  to  the  death 
of  men,  she  thought  differently,  namely,  that  it  hap- 
pened according  to  particular  appointment.  She 
thought  that  the  manifestation  of  God's  will,  through 
the  monitor  within,  is  the  only  particular  Providence, 
and  that,  if  all  men  were  ready  to  obey  this  voice  with- 
in, it  would  point  them  out  beforehand  all  sorts  of  evil 
to  be  avoided,  particularly  with  respect  to  causes  of 
death,  which  she  thought  would  happen  only  when 
the  machine  was  worn  out.  I  agreed  with  respect  to 
particular  Providence,  but,  as  to  the  evils  and  acci- 
dents, which  here  befall  us,  I  thought  them  belong- 
ing to  our  destination.  Our  nature  is  made  such  as 
to  be  able,  and  called  upon,  to  transmute  all  evil  into 
good;  and,  the  universe  being  so  constructed  that  the 
destination  of  each  being  is  provided  for,  we  find,  in 
the  world  without,  that  what  is  called  evil  and  acci- 
dent is  the  very  means  to  exercise  our  free  agency, 
and  to  improve  through  our  own  exertion.  Accord- 
ingly I  thought  such  accidents  would  not  cease, 
however  perfect  we  might  become. 

"  Future  life.  I  asserted  the  immortality  of  our 
moral  nature  ;  she,  that  our  moral  would  be  swallowed 
up  in  divine  nature.  She  reminded  me  of  the  nature 
of  angels,  whom  I  thought  less  perfect  than  man,  if 
they  had  no  moral  freedom,  —  divine  animals.  But  I 


188         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

observed,  that  the  Bible  speaks  of  angels  having  fall- 
en, and  that  this  implies  also  the  possibility  of  rising 
to  goodness  ;  as  we  cannot  suppose  evil  to  be  made 
more  powerful  than  good  by  the  Creator. 

"  She  referred  me  to  the  nature  of  God  himself, 
whom  I  certainly  could  not  believe  a  moral  being, 
striving  to  overcome  temptation  by  his  own  free  exer- 
tion, and  therefore  liable  to  sin.  I  observed,  that  we 
know  God  only  as  he  manifests  Jiimself  in  the  uni- 
verse, and  not  God's  being  in  itself;  and  that  it  does 
not  follow  that  his  nature  must  be  either  like  that  in 
animals,  being  directed  by  necessity,  or  like  that  of 
man  as  a  free  agent.  For  his  nature,  from  which  ne- 
cessity and  free  agency  originate,  may  be  different 
from  both,  exceeding  our  conception.  We  love  him 
because  we  see  that  his  chief  intention  is  the  perfec- 
tion of  his  creatures,  and  that  is,  in  living  beings,  their 
happiness. 

"  This  conversation  reminded  rne  of  one  I  had 
with  Dr.  Channing,  on  the  same  subject,  at  Newport, 
walking  on  the  sea-shore.  In  this  life,  at  least,  the 
more  perfect  we  grow,  the  more  we  are  tempted  in 
proportion,  either  to  rest  on  our  laurels,  or  to  exert 
the  means  which  we  have  acquired  by  our  exertion 
for  our  own  elevation,  and  not  for  mankind.  The 
Bible  speaks  of  the  fall  of  angels,  and  it  is  very  prob- 
able that  this  will  be  in  the  future  state  as  it  is  in  this. 
Moral  satisfaction,  without  which  there  is  no  other 
real  satisfaction,  is  not  founded  upon  having  once  been 
virtuous,  but  upon  our  actually  being  so  ;  and  we  rise 
in  happiness  as  we  rise  in  virtue.  It  is  a  common 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.      189 

experience,  that  you  may  trust  a  person  in  certain 
things,  but  not  trust  him  when  the  temptation  is  much 
greater  than  that  which  he  has  perfectly  overcome, 
and  which  is  therefore  no  longer  a  temptation  to  him. 
Many  of  those  whose  common  honesty  may  be  relied 
on,  cannot  be  trusted  in  other  respects,  as  ambition, 
haughtiness,  oppression  of  rivals,  &c.  It  is  remark- 
able of  rich  men,  that  they  commonly  want  to  be 
judged  by  the  same  rule  of  common  honesty,  which 
is  applicable  to  the  poor  ;  whereas,  that  which  in  one 
is  virtue,  is  not  the  same  in  another.  I  therefore 
maintained  the  immortality  of  our  moral  nature,  and 
that  our  ideas  of  the  future  state  must  be  formed 
on  the  basis  of  the  present.  Dr.  Channing  thought 
these  views  peculiar  and  interesting. 

"  13th.  In  the  morning  I  wrote  a  part  of  my  ser- 
mon on  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  In  the  after- 
noon I  went  to  Boston  to  Miss  C 's,  where  I  met 

Miss  R .     We  conversed  first  on  the  manner  in 

which  children  are  taught  religion.  Bad  consequences 
of  the  doctrine  of  fear  in  an  age  of  weakness  and  utter 
dependence  on  others.  Men  are  greatly  indebted  to 
Christianity,  and,  in  the  true  moral  point  of  view,  to 
Christianity  alone,  for  the  representation  of  God  under 
the  character  of  a  father  ;  but  this  generally  is  not 
rightly  understood  and  represented  to  others.  The 
child's  objection  is,  If  God  is  our  father,  how  is  it 
that  we  do  not  see  him  ?  The  true  answer  is,  that 
the  child  does  not  see  his  own  father,  but  only  his 
body.  This  may  be  brought  home  to  the  mind  of 
the  child,  according  to  the  individual  extent  of  his 


190  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

conceptions,  that,  as  the  body  of  his  father,  his  eyes, 
language,  actions,  are  manifestations  of  the  spirit  of 
his  father,  of  his  love,  wisdom,  and  energy,  thus  the 
universe  discovers  the  mind  of  the  universal  Father. 
We  love  another  kind  Being,  though  we  do  not  see 
what  we  love  in  him. 

"  After  tea  we  played  little  word  with  little  Fred. 

"  14th.  Dr.  Ware  told  me,  that  Talleyrand,  while 
he  was  here  in  the  time  of  the  Revolution  (after  hav- 
ing been  forbidden  to  remain  in  England),  feigned 
not  to  understand  the  English  language  at  all,  and, 
being  introduced  into  the  first  families  in  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  and  all  the  principal  cities  of  this  coun- 
try, he  listened  as  a  spy  to  all  their  conversations, 
which  at  that  time  turned  upon  politics.  After  his 
return  to  France,  he  was  immediately  put  in  a  high 
office,  probably  to  reward  his  espionage,  which  had 
made  him  acquainted  with  all  the  leading  interests 
and  men  of  this  country. 

"  15th.  Conversation  with  Dr.  W.,  on  religious 
conferences,  as  they  ought  to  be  conducted  by  the 
minister,  affording  opportunity  to  every  one  to  com- 
municate his  doubts  and  his  convictions.  Dr.  W. 
observed,  that,  in  country  parishes,  the  minister  is  not 
unfrequently,  though  perhaps  the  most  learned,  yet 
cot  the  brightest  of  his  people  ;  and  many,  whose 
power  consists  in  skepticism  on  controversial  points, 
take  such  an  opportunity  of  embarrassing  the  minister. 
But  I' remarked,  that  this  would  be  a  very  good  check 
upon  those  who  enter  the  ministry  without  real  fitness 
for  it;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  motive  for  constant 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         191 

study  and  exertion,  to  those  who  are  settled.  He 
expressed  his  agreement. 

"  In  the  evening,  first  religious  meeting  at  Dr.  Chan- 
ning's,  who  was  very  cheerful,  and  whose  whole  soul 
seemed  to  flow  forth  in  all  its  purity  and  excellence. 
The  persons  present  seemed  delighted  with  seeing 
each  other  again,  and  more  social.  Many  of  the  la- 
dies spoke  more  freely  than  was  formerly  the  case. 
The  subject  was  moral  and  religious  education.  Sun- 
day schools.  Christianity  taught  as  a  particular  form 
of  religion,  not  as  the  essence,  and  most  perfect  ema- 
nation, of  religion.  Developement  of  the  moral  and 
religious  principle.  Anecdotes  illustrating  the  moral 
and  religious  nature  of  children.  I  was  reminded  of 
my  good  little  brother  Herman,  who  died  at  four  years 
of  age.  He  used  to  shut  himself  up  in  the  stable, 
when  he  had  done  wrong,  to  help  away  his  pain.  I 
could  not  mention  the  fact,  from  a  feeling  which  was 
made  clear  to  me  from  the  remark  of  a  mother,  who 
was  asked  why  she  had  not  mentioned  at  the  meeting 
her  own  remarkable  experience,  concerning  the  de- 
velopement  of  the  moral  and  religious  nature  of  her 
children.  Her  answer  was,  'I  felt  as  if  it  were  ex- 
posing my  children.' 

"Goodness  from  instruction  is  not  virtue  ;  virtue  is 
from  conviction  and  free  exertion.  Want  of  respect 
for  the  nature  of  children,  —  and  distrust.  Prayer 
an  involuntary  expression  of  the  state  of  our  soul. 
Dr.  Channing  concluded  with  prayer. 

"  16th.  In  the  evening  I  went  to  Dr.  C.'s,  where  I 
found  Mr.  P .  Conversation  about  the  usefulness 


192  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

of  works  of  imagination,  and,  in  general,  of  the  use  of 
works  of  fiction  in  the  education  of  children.  We 
agreed,  that  there  was  too  much  of  this  excitement  in 
our  days,  to  the  neglect  of  more  serious  and  arduous 

studies ;  but  Mr.  P seemed  to  think  that  the  use 

of  moral  anecdotes  would  be  injurious  to  the  principle 
of  truth.  He  thought  the  energy  of  a  child's  mind 
was  impaired  by  living  in  these  worlds  of  imagination, 
which  rendered  him  disgusted  with  the  imperfections  of 
reality,  and  unable  to  act  in  real  life  with  efficiency. 
I  observed  that  a  good  education,  calculated  to  de- 
velope  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  would  make  a 
child  desirous  to  realize  his  schemes  of  perfection  in 
the  real  world  ;  that  all  improvement  was  essentially 
dependent  on  imagination  ;  that  all  the  inventions  by 
which  the  good  of  mankind  had  been  promoted,  were 
the  productions  of  an  imagination  improving  upon  the 
results  of  perception.  Dr.  C.  assented  to  this  opin- 
ion, and  applied  it  to  Newton.  Mr.  P had  main- 
tained, that  such  a  mind  codld  not  grow  up  under 
novel-reading,  and  dealing  in  fictions.  There  was  a 
candor  in  all  the  assertions  and  arguments  of  Mr. 

P ,  a  love  of  truth,  which  I  have  never  seen  more 

strikingly  manifested. 

"18th.     Visit  at  Mrs.  S 's.     Her  son,  one  of 

my  best  scholars  in  German,  killed  by  a  blow  from 
the  bowsprit  of  a  vessel.  I  told  her,  that  I  thought 
the  death  of  such  pure  beings,  though  a  sad  disap- 
pointment of  our  earthly  affections,  yet  the  dearest 
and  most  certain  assurance  of  our  immortality  ;  an 
earnest  of  our  meeting  again.  She  told  me,  that  she 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  193 

felt  perfectly  convinced  of  her  meeting  her  child  in 
a  better  state,  and  that  nothing  but  the  separation 
troubled  her  mind. 

"  19th.  Had  a  conversation  with  Dr.  W.  on  Ger- 
man theologians.  He  called  their  opinions  impioua 
and  dangerous.  I  observed,  that  the  common  fault  in 
judging  of  German  theologians,  consists  in  ranging 
them  under  certain  heads  ;  although  each  individual 
teacher  differed  perhaps  as  much  from  those  with 
whom  he  has  some  views  in  common,  as  these  views 
differ  from  those  of  the  defenders  of  a  different  creed. 
He  said,  that  this  difference  is  to  be  found  also  in 
this  country,  among  the  Unitarians  as  well  as  the  or- 
thodox ;  but  that  many  did  not  fully  express  their 
opinions.  I  observed,  that  this  timidity  had  done  much 
injury  ;  that  in  German  literature  there  was  more 
frankness  ;  that  the  worst  of  all  the  consequences  of 
erroneous  opinions  was  this,  they  induced  those,  who 
think  differently,  to  endeavour  to  suppress  them,  o* 
at  least  to  represent  them  as  dangerous.  He  agreed, 
but  said,  that  in  many  cases  an  entire  disclosure  of 
one's  own  faith  could  not  be  of  use  to  others,  while 
it  is  apt  to  destroy  the  usefulness,  and  means  of  liv- 
ing, of  him  who  holds  these  opinions. 

"21st.     Conversation  with  G ,  about  German 

art  and  literature,  its  history  and  character.  Striving 
after  absolute  perfection,  and  therefore  only  beginnings 
in  any  thing.  Jn  paintings  commonly  every  thing  neg- 
lected for  the  expression  of  the  face  ;  as  the  daylight 
in  the  landscape,  so  the  expression  of  the  German 
face  is  spread  over  the  whole,  not  concentrated  as 

VOL.  i.  17 


194  LIFE    OF    CHARLES   POLLEN. 

in  the  faces  of  the  Italians  and  French.  There  is  not 
one  Gothic  building  entirely  finished.  The  church 
reformation.  Inventions  of  all  kinds  improved  in 
other  countries. 

"  27th.  Meeting  of  the  Sunday-School  Teachers  at 

Dr.  Channing's.  Went  there  with  the  Miss  C s, 

Mr.  Harry  Sedgwick  and  his  excellent  wife.  We 
wrote  questions  upon  pieces  of  paper  before  we  went. 

"  Dr.  Channing  first  asked  the  teachers  if  they  had 
any  questions  to  propose.  History  of  Peter  ;  his  ex- 
pression, '  I  will  not  forsake  thee,  though  all  should 
forsake  thee,'  —  not  an  expression  of  too  great  and 
blamable  confidence,  but  of  strong  affection.  But  it 
afterwards  became  his  judge,  as  he  did  not  act  up  to 
it. 

"  The  subject  of  gratitude  was  discussed.  I  main- 
tained, that  gratitude  is  the  desire  of  doing  good  to 
those,  who  have  shown  us  the  intention  of  doing  good 
to  us  ;  or  the  desire  of  contributing  to  the  happiness 
of  those  who  have  contributed  to  ours.  This  shows, 
that  we  have  no  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the  Deity, 
if  he  has  created  some  for  eternal  misery,  unless  we 
belong  to  the  chosen  few.  Moreover,  we  are  told  to 
love  even  our  enemies  :  '  for  if  ye  love  them  which 
love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ? '  &c.  '  Be  perfect  as 
your  Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect.'  This  shows,  that 
true  gratitude  is  love,  excited  by  benefits  conferred  on 
us.  But  this  love  ought  to  exist  equally,  if  this  same 
kind  spirit  has  been  manifested  toward  others.  It 
cannot  be  moral  to  love  a  person  more  on  this  ac- 
count, that  we  have  been  the  objects  of  his  kindness. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  195 

Christ  bids  us,  through  precept  and  example,  to 
consider  all  men  as  brothers,  sisters,  and  children. 
This  is  not  a  mere  figure.  It  may  be,  and  is  com- 
monly, the  excuse,  that  we  have  better  proof  of  the 
kindness  of  our  nearest  friends,  than  of  others.  But, 
on  equally  strong  proof  we  owe  to  one  as  much 
love  and  kindness  as  to  the  other.  Or,  as  true  Chris- 
tians, we  should  rather  say,  we  are  bound  in  truth  to 
acknowledge  the  kindness  of  one  as  much  as  of  the 
other.  (For  love  we  owe  even  to  our  enemies.) 
Dr.  Channing  observed,  that  Godwin  has  advanced 
the  doctrine,  that  gratitude,  distinct  from  general  be- 
nevolence, is  selfishness.  He  puts  the  alternative  of 
two  persons  in  danger  ;  one  is  our  benefactor,  and 
the  other  the  benefactor  of  mankind  (Fenelon,  for  in- 
stance), and  we  can  save  only  one  of  them  ;  what 
is  our  duty  ?  He  put  the  question  to  me,  with  the 
modification,  if  that  person  is,  according  to  our  con- 
viction, a  far  more  valuable  member  of  the  human 
family,  than  the  other  who  is  our  parent,  whom  should 
I  prefer  to  save,  Fenelon  or  the  parent  ? 

"  I  replied,  that  I  could  not  with  certainty  say, 
what  I,  being  brought  up  with  individual  family  feel- 
ings, should  do  in  such  a  case  ;  but,  if  I  were  quite 
certain  of  doing  more  good  by  saving  the  one  than 
the  other,  I  should  feel  bound  in  conscience  to  save 
Fenelon.  This  declaration  seemed  to  startle  the  per- 
sons present.  But  Miss  P observed,  that  Fen- 
elon himself,  according  to  his  principles,  would  have 
decided  in  the  same  manner. 

"  Dr.    C.    spoke    against    this    calculation    of  the 


196  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.' 

comparative  good  consequences  of  an  action,  which 
must  be  in  itself  either  right  or  wrong.  He  thought 
higher  of  those  actions  which  tended  to  a  definite, 
though  limited  object,  than  of  those  which  are  cal- 
culated to  promote  the  general  good,  as  it  is  called. 
He  thought  my  decision  wrong,  and  appealed  to  the 
natural  feelings  of  every  one  present.  He  thought 
this  feeling  implanted  by  God,  whose  interest  in  his 
creatures  is  not  only  a  general  one,  but  embraces 
each  in  his  whole  individuality.  His  love,  therefore, 
varies  toward  each  individual.  Thus,  our  love,  also, 
is  the  more  perfect  the  more  it  is  individual.  There- 
fore, he  thought  the  love  we  have  to  our  nearest 
friends  more  perfect  than  general  benevolence.  He 
thought  it  an  essential  quality  of  our  nature  to  ad- 
here most  to  him  who  knows  us  entirely,  and  is  de- 
voted to  us  in  every  respect.  To  him  we  are  bound, 
and  him  we  ought  to  prefer  to  all  the  world. 

"  I  agreed  with  him  with  respect  to  the  character 
of  God  (as  I  had  on  a  former  occasion  expressed  to 
him)  ;  his  love  being  directed  to  each  being,  with  all 
his  peculiar  qualities  and  wants.  The  perfection  of 
the  divine  love,  however,  consists  in  two  characteris- 
tics, namely,  that  its  object  is  each  being,  and  adapt- 
ed to  his  whole  individual  nature.  I  agreed  with  him, 
that  the  love  of  one  toward  another  which  prompts 
him  only  to  provide  for  him  in  certain  respects,  is 
less  perfect  than  that  love  which  takes  care  of  all  his 
wants  and  concerns,  and  that,  therefore,  human  gov- 
ernment, and  all  the  actions  of  men  for  the  general 
good,  are  less  perfect  than  the  government  of  God. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  197 

"  But  there  is  another  ground  of  relative  perfection  ; 
for  instance,  the  love  of  a  father  is  less  perfect,  if  he  is 
devoted  to  some  of  his  children,  than  if  he  embraces, 
with  equally  intense  interest,  each  of  them  in  his  indi- 
vidual capacity.  To  love  more  or  fewer  men,  and  to 
love  them  more  or  less,  are  the  two  characteristics 
of  the  degree  of  perfection  in  love.  The  principle 
of  morality  is,  to  do  the  most  good  we  can  ;  and, 
therefore,  we  do  more  good  by  saving  him  who  does 
more  good  than  another,  although  the  latter  has  done 
good  to  us.  This  last  circumstance  can  operate  only 
on  the  selfish,  but  cannot  weigh  with  the  moral  prin- 
ciple. Therefore,  if,  in  such  a  case,  we  oppose  the 
principle  of  gratitude  to  that  of  general  love,  it  is  op- 
posing selfishness  to  morality. 

"  I  ought  to  have  mentioned,  that  the  question, 
with  regard  to  the  parent,  was  not  quite  fair  ;  as  a 
man  might,  from  other  considerations  than  that  of 
gratitude,  be  induced  to  save  his  parent  rather  than 
any  one  else.  This  was  a  remark  of  Grater,  and  it 
led  me  to  think  of  the  relative  value  of  the  natural  af- 
fections. I  think  that  they  are  the  means  lo  form  true 
spiritual  bonds  of  mutual  dependence  and  improve- 
ment, and  occasion  far  truer  and  lasting  union  ;  but 
they  are  not  of  themselves  such  bonds.  These  natu- 
ral ties  are  so  important  as  to  induce  us  to  save  a 
natural  connexion  rather  than  a  stranger,  whenever 
we  are  not  certain  of  the  greater  worth  of  the  latter. 
But  whenever  we  are  assured  of  this,  the  stranger 
(like  the  Samaritan  in  the  parable)  becomes  our  near- 
est friend,  while  the  natural  connexion  is  supplanted 
17* 


198         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

by  another  spiritual   one,   of  which  it   is    only  the 
means. 

"  The  subject  of  our  conversation  had  been  some- 
what altered  while  discussing  it  ;  we  were  speaking 
less  of  gratitude  than  of  particular  and  general  be- 
nevolence. As  we  cannot,  like  the  Deity,  embrace 
all  persons  and  all  their  concerns  in  our  love,  we 
must  do  as  much  as  we  can  ;  and,  at  the  same  time 
that  we  promote  the  general  interest  of  the  communi- 
ty, have  the  particular  concerns  of  our  nearest  friends 
at  heart.  The  degree,  in  which  we  ought  to  devote 
ourselves  to  either  of  these  objects  of  our  activity, 
depends  on  our  faculties  and  circumstances  ;  and,  ac- 
cordingly, each  may  claim  the  preference  in  particu- 
lar cases. 

"  Dr.  C.  concluded  with  an  excellent  prayer,  dis- 
solving all  differences  into  one  holy  accord. 

"  I  went  with  Miss  C and  Mrs.  and    Mrs. 

S to  the  house  of  Miss  C .      Mr.  Sedgvvick 

thought  I  was  right,  and  put  Washington  in  the  place 

of  Fenelon,  which  seemed  to  induce  Miss  C to 

adopt  the  same  opinion,  though  she  was  not  decided. 
"  28th.     In  the   morning  went  with  Grater  to  the 
hospital  to  be  interpreter  to  Mrs.   Hegel,   a  poor, 
sick,  German  woman. 

"  28th.    In  the  evening,  visit  at  Mr.  's.     Mrs. 

is  one  of  those  women  whose  whole  appearance  is 

transparent  goodness,  the  good  part  of  Martha,  united 

with  the  better  part  of  Mary.      Mr.  joined  our 

company  after  some  time  ;  very  friendly,  and   with- 
out that  harshness,  which  sometimes  dims    the   ex- 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  199 

pression  of  clear  and  strenuous  performance  of  duty. 
All  was  pleasant. 

"  29th.       Grater   and    I    dined    at   Dr.    's. 

Miss ,  in  all  her  moral  beauty,  shining  forth  in 

her  features,  motions,  and  dress,  and  sounding  through 
every  note  in  her  voice. 

"  In  the  evening,  conversation  with  Grater  about 
Christianity,  of  which  so  little  appears  in  the  life  of 
mankind  in  general.  Rich  and  poor  ;  tyrants  and 
slaves  ;  moral  judgment  perverted  by  false  distinc- 
tions. 

11  I  frequently  thought,  to-day,  of  my  family,  —  my 
good  old  father.  On  thanksgiving  day,  the  members 
of  every  family  in  New  England  meet,  if  possible,  at 
the  house  of  the  head  of  the  family.  In  the  morning 
there  is  service  in  all  the  churches.  The  day  is  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor.  All  congregations  are  in- 
vited to  celebrate  it  ;  and  men  are  requested  to  ab- 
stain from  all  business  which  is  inconsistent  with  the 
celebration  of  the  day.  The  poorest  families  are  pro- 
vided for,  by  the  rich,  on  that  day,  that  they  may 
join  in  the  universal  rejoicing.  Instead  of  the  Easter 
lamb,  a  turkey. 

"  After  midnight,  succeeded  in  bringing  down  my 
journal  to  the  present  moment. 

"  Conversation  with  Dr.  W.  about  the  value  of 
the  constitution  of  this  country.  The  great  principle, 
that  general  interests  are  left  to  the  decision  of  the 
general  government,  while  particular  concerns  are  set- 
tled by  the  States  and  communities  to  which  they 
belong.  This  principle  of  confederation  was  want- 


200  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ing  to  the  States  of  Greece.     Otherwise  the  differ- 
ence between  the  democratic  state  of  things  and  ten- 
dencies  in  Athens,  and   the   aristocratic  constitution 
of  Sparta,  might  have  been  decided  by  the  prevalence 
of  truth  in  the  public  opinion.     Without  the  federal 
constitution    and    general    government,    Virginia    and 
Massachusetts  would  have  acted  against  each  other 
in  the  same  manner  as  formerly  Athens  and   Sparta. 
"  December  1st.     Conversation   with    Grater,    in 
the  morning,  about  feeling.    He  takes  it  as  immediate 
perception  (unmittclbare  Jlnschduung) ,  particularly  of 
spiritual  things,   the  conception   being   derived  from 
feeling  (GefuhV),  the  sense  of  touch.     But  this  defi- 
nition does  not  suit  the  idea  of  pleasure  and  pain  be- 
ing  the  two  phenomena  of  feeling,  (for  the  concep- 
tions of  these  feelings  are  different  from  the  feelings 
themselves.)     In  German,  we  have  two  words,  Gefuhl 
and  Empfindung,  which   are  frequently  employed  in- 
definitely and    promiscuously.     But   it    seems    more 
according  to    usage    to  understand,  by  Empfindung, 
every  immediate  perception,  sensual  or  spiritual,  and 
by  Gefuhl,  those  actions,  by  which  the  soul  expresses 
the  relation  of  the   state  of  our  being  to  its  own  im- 
pulses, the  different  degrees  of  satisfaction  or  dissat- 
isfaction ;  the  two  great  steps  in  the  progress  of  hu- 
man   nature.      The  judgment    by  feeling  is    nothing 
else  than  this  satisfaction   or  dissatisfaction   with   an 
object  which  affects  us,  without  being  conscious  of 
its  reasons. 

"  Why  has   the  idea  of  finding  a  rational  will,  ex- 
pressed in  creation,  been  so  much  thrown  into  the 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  201 

background,  in  Germany,  since  Kant  ?  Because  it  is 
not  a  logical  conclusion,  or  mathematical  demonstra- 
tion. Mathematics  are  here  out  of  place,  and,  as  to 
logic,  it  is  evident,  that  it  contains  nothing  but  the 
axiom  of  identity,  which  is  itself  derived  from  expe- 
rience. (.#  is  not  non  ./?,  that  is,  A  is  A  ;  it  is  this  A 
is  .#,  to  which  all  logical  reasoning  must  be  reduced.) 
Is  it  not  perfectly  natural  for  us  to  employ  our  own 
nature  for  the  explanation  of  the  universe  ?  As  we 
know  by  experience,  as  far  as  this  extends,  that  our 
nature  is  essentially  the  same  with  the  corresponding 
things  without  us  ;  namely,  we  are  able  to  show  the 
elements  and  laws  which  our  body  has  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  corporeal  world.  The  phenom- 
ena of  life,  too,  are  analogous,  as  physiology  shows. 
Besides  these  natural  endowments  of  bodies,  plants, 
and  animals,  we  find  a  spiritual  nature,  the  will,  or  an 
absolute  power  of  acting  independent  of  every  law 
(being  a  law  to  itself),  and  reason,  the  power  of  con- 
ceiving of  absolute  perfection.  Our  own  happiness 
(perfection  of  feeling)  consists  in  the  conformity  of 
our  will  to  our  reason.  The  more  we  know  of  the 
universe,  we  find  in  it  such  an  absolute  acting  to  the 
purpose  of  infinite  perfection  as  evidently  as  we  find 
it  in  human  actions.  It  is,  therefore,  perfectly  natural 
for  us  to  find  a  universal  mind  in  the  universe,  with 
reason,  will,  and  feeling.  This  must  fortify  us  against 
doubt  ;  as  the  faculty  of  doubting  becomes  mere 
dreaming  if  it  exceeds  the  limits  of  its  destination, 
which  is  to  sound  every  one  of  our  conceptions, 
to  see  whether  it  be  acquired  by  an  exercise  of  our 


202  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

faculties  consistent  with  our  nature,  or  not.  (To  doubt 
every  thing  is  as  unreasonable  as  to  doubt  nothing.) 
"  This  I  say  of  the  general  endowments  of  our 
nature,  which  are  given  to  us,  not  as  a  settled  pos- 
session, but  only  as  means  and  motives  of  attaining 
the  object  of  our  nature,  perfection.  The  full  ex- 
ercise of  our  will  and  our  reason,  and  the  attainment 
of  happiness,  are  made  dependent  on  our  own  exer- 
tion in  conquering  temptations,  which  are  all  con- 
tained in  the  general  impulse  to  be  satisfied  with  those 
enjoyments  which  do  not  depend  on  moral  exertion. 
This  particular  endowment  of  our  nature,  the  neces- 
sity of  moral  exertion,  we  cannot  transfer  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  Deity,  as  it  is  only  the  characteristic  of 
our  own  special  rank  in  the  scale  of  beings,  the  man- 
ner in  which  we  may  act  up  to  the  law  of  our  being. 
Therefore,  we  cannot  call  God  a  virtuous  or  a  non- 
virtuous  being. 

"  Moreover,  in  us  the  power  of  willing  and  fulfil- 
ling are  separated.  This  characteristic  is  a  mark  of 
our  peculiar  finite  rank  in  creation,  and,  therefore,  not 
attributable  to  the  Deity.  His  will  is  creative  action. 
All  beings  (we  know),  from  the  physical  elements  up 
to  man,  are  creatures  to  which  a  particular  rank  is 
assigned  in  the  scale  of  creation,  with  no  other  en- 
dowment than  to  fill  their  place.  Man  belongs  to 
these  different  degrees  of  existence  by  his  corporeal, 
vegetative,  and  animal  nature.  But  by  his  spiritual 
endowments,  he  stands  above  the  other  attributes  of 
his  own  nature,  and  of  that  of  the  things  without  him. 
The  scale  of  perfection,  from  the  elements  to  man, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          203 

and  his  own  infinite  perfectibility,  show  us,  that  he  is 
the  beginner  of  a  new  order  of  beings  ;  namely,  those 
whose  destiny  is  not  to  fill  a  necessary  place  in  the 
scale  of  perfection,  but  to  make  the  law  of  the  uni- 
verse, perfection  in  general,  infinite  perfection,  his 
law.  This  endowment  constitutes  his  relationship  to 
superhuman  beings,  the  existence  of  which  is  proba- 
ble, from  the  scale  of  perfection  which  is  evidently 
established  with  respect  to  all  the  beings  we  know. 
There  are  probably  many  beings  higher  than  we,  on 
account  of  their  greater  means  of  approaching  perfec- 
tion, as  this  difference  exists  among  men.  But  it 
seems  to  be  the  characteristic  of  all  spiritual  beings, 
to  be  endowed  with  the  faculties  to  act  independently 
according  to  the  idea  of  infinite  perfection  ;  and  their 
destination  is  expressed  not  only  in  the  faculties, 
(reason  and  will,)  but  also  in  the  impulses  of  their  na- 
ture, and  in  the  feeling  of  satisfaction  or  dissatisfac- 
tion, according  as  they  comply  with  the  will  of  God 
expressed  in  their  own  nature. 

"  It  is  evident  from  this  representation,  that,  of  all 
earthly  beings,  man  alone  finds  in  his  nature  the 
ground  for  the  explanation  of  the  universe,  and  a  gen- 
eral perception  of  the  Deity.  He  has  in  himself 
those  faculties  and  motives,  of  which  he  finds  the 
marks  expressed  in  the  universe. 

Conversation  with  Dr.  Channing  in  the  evening. 
Condition  of  servants,  and  those  who  are  occupied 
with  what  are  called  the  lower  employments.  Idea 
of  independence  gained  by  their  work  elevates  them 
above  it,  as  Dr.  Channing  observed  ;  I  added  the 


204         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

idea  of  order,  neatness,  perfection  in  its  kind,  which 
is  or  ought  to  be  aimed  at  even  in  the  lowest  occupa- 
tions, ennobling  them.  Moral  difference  between  peo- 
ple in  factories,  and  those  who  work  by  themselves  ; 
dependent  on  the  owner  ;  occupied  with  something 
entirely  mechanical  ;  wheels  in  the  machinery.  In 
making  a  comfortable  and  handsome  coat,  or  shoe, 
judgment  and  taste  are  involved.  Dr.  Channing  agreed 
in  these  views,  and  earnestly  urged  the  duty  of  edu- 
cating the  poor,  so  as  to  render  them  capable  of  higher 
enjoyments.  I  remarked,  that  the  chief  cause  of  the 
distance  between  the  higher  and  lower  classes  (so  call- 
ed) consists  in  the  manners  ;  and  that  I  thought  the 
Sunday  schools  would  have,  in  this  respect,  an  excel- 
lent influence.  Tariff  question.  Shall  Congress  in- 
crease the  duties  on  foreign  manufactures,  in  order  to 
support  domestic  factories  ?  We  agreed,  that  tempo- 
rary evils  might  arise  to  a  country  from  the  abolition  of 
all  tolls  and  custom-houses  ;  but  that,  in  the  end,  the 
country  must  profit  by  the  true  cosmopolitical  princi- 
ple of  free  trade.  Difficulty  of  persuading  the  Amer- 
icans to  adopt  direct  taxes,  which  would  become  ne- 
cessary for  the  support  of  government  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  duties  of  entry. 

"  Dr.  Channing  expected  good  success  from  ap- 
pealing to  the  common  sense  of  the  people,  who 
are  obliged  to  pay  the  same  now,  only  in  an  indirect 
way.  I  observed  upon  the  mischief  arising  from  an 
increase  of  duties  on  imported  articles,  and  unnatural 
support  of  home  factories,  as  it  would  destroy  the 
enterprising  spirit  which  led  the  people  to  culti- 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  205 

vate  new  lands  whenever  the  population  became  too 
thick,  thus  enlarging  the  cultivation  of  the  country, 
and  renewing  or  sustaining  the  sound  spirit  of  the 
people,  instead  of  yielding  to  the  temptation  of  ease 
in  the  factories,  so  bad,  particularly  for  children. 

"  At  nine  o'clock  called  at  Miss 's,  who  had 

been  so  kind  as  to  leave  a  message  for  me,  to  join 

them  at  Mr. 's.     This  message  was  so  much  the 

more  pleasant  to  me,  as  they  did  not  know  that  I 
should  call. 

"  Sunday.  I  went  to  the  hospital  immediately  after 
breakfast,  to  see  Mrs.  Hegel  ;  it  took  me  only  half 
an  hour  ;  the  old  woman  seems  much  better  ;  she 
felt  happy  to  see  me,  and  praised  very  much  the  kind 
attention  which  was  paid  her. 

"  I  am  very  much  struck  with  the  good  manner  and 
the  minuteness  of  Dr.  Jackson  in  visiting  and  ques- 
tioning the  sick.  The  sick  are  well  accommodated  in 
large,  high,  and  clean  rooms.  Beautiful  prospect. 

"  In  the  evening  went  to  Dr.  Channing's.  We 
talked  about  common  occupations.  I  mentioned,  that 
I  had  seen  some  of  the  first  lawyers  in  Philadelphia, 
carrying  a  turkey  home  from  market. 

"4th.  In  the  evening  a  meeting  of  a  society  for  ed- 
ucation, at  Mr.  P 's.  I  missed  a  part  of  the  con- 
versation on  the  Old  Testament.  On  religious  educa- 
tion in  general,  Mr.  P.  thought,  that  we  commonly  do 
and  expect  too  much  in  religious  instruction.  Chris- 
tianity was  not  forced  upon  mankind  ;  on  the  contra- 
ry, man  was  left  to  misunderstand  and  corrupt  it,  and 
make  it  an  excuse  for  oppression  and  all  sorts  of 

VOL.  i.  18 


206  LIFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

crime.  Man  is  a  free  agent  in  judgment,  and  in 
practice,  and  should  be  instructed  with  this  view. 

"Dr.  Channing  stated  the  necessity  of  new  light 
in  this  instruction,  as  being  not  sufficiently  effectual. 
Being  asked  for  my  opinion,  by  Dr.  Channing,  I  said, 
that  our  common  religious  instruction  seemed  to  me 
defective,  particularly  on  account  of  a  want  of  true 
reality.  It  is  a  false  reality  to  teach  children,  that 
God  sees  them  and  hears  them  ;  because  it  is  not 
true,  and  the  children  are  right  in  not  believing  it. 
For  the  truth  of  an  assertion  must  be  tried  by  the 
idea  it  is  calculated  to  impress  on  the  mind  of  the 
hearers,  and  the  child  cannot  help  understanding  that 
assertion  as  implying,  that  God  has  eyes  and  ears  and 
must  be  visible.  On  the  other  hand  we  labor  under 
a  nominalism,  consisting  in  abstract  notions  in  con- 
veying religious  ideas  to  children.  They  know  noth- 
ing of  a  first  cause,  or  of  abstract  notions  of  good  and 
evil.  But  if  we  only  allow  the  child's  mind  to  de- 
velope  itself  naturally,  it  will  find  God  in  the  universe 
and  in  itself.  The  comparison  of  the  marks  of  crea- 
tive reason,  with  the  equally  evident  and  much  more 
perfect  manifestations  of  creative  intelligence  in  the 
works  of  nature,  cannot  fail  to  open  the  mind  to  reli- 
gious truth.  Therefore  I  should  prefer  not  speaking 
of  religion,  not  giving  them  names  and  abstract  no- 
tions, before  they  are  acquainted  with  the  realities 
they  belong  to. 

"  Dr.  Channing  said,  that  in  Scotland  this  mode  had 
been  pursued  in  one  instance  with  a  happy  effect.  But 
in  general  it  would  be  impossible,  in  the  present  state 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  207 

of  the  world,  at  least  in  this  country,  to  shut  out  a 
child  from  the  established  notions  of  religion.  I  re- 
marked, that  at  least  the  instruction  in  the  real  objects, 
outward  nature,  and  our  own  mind,  and  God's  influ- 
ence on  it,  should  be  carried  on  at  the  same  time,  in 
order  to  give  reality  to  those  notions.  Dr.  Channing 
thought  the  great  object  in  moral  education  to  be, 
the  rendering  children  conscious  of  the  power  of  self- 
exertion  in  themselves.  Miss  R observed,  that 

she  still  recollected  the  overflowing  happiness  she  felt, 
after  having,  for  the  first  time,  overcome  her  own 
inclination.  I  remarked,  that  this  is  the  true  way  of 
leading  children  to  morality,  namely,  to  make  them 
conscious  of  this  exceeding  happiness. 

"  5th.  I  went  to  see  Dr.  Channing,  to  whom  I 
read  a  poem  of  Mr.  Dana's,  which  led  us  to  speak  of 
immortality,  being  frequently  considered  as  an  exist- 
ence, entirely  separated  from  the  present,  instead  of 
thinking  that  we  have  already  entered  upon  our  im- 
mortality. The  thought  is  not  familiar  to  us,  as  it 
ought  to  be.  Dr.  Channing,  when  we  were  alone, 
said  that  he  was  conscious  of  the  defects  of  our  pres- 
ent system  of  Christianity,  consisting  of  shadows 
more  than  realities  ;  that  he  was  indebted  to  me  for 
some  views  of  individual  action,  but  that  he  thinks 
none  of  us  has  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  true  uni- 
versal view  of  Christianity,  the  nature  of  man  and  his 
relation  to  the  Deity.  I  said,  that  the  history  of  the 
developement  of  the  human  mind  seems  to  show  us, 
that  the  regeneration  of  our  religious  state  is  not  to 
arise  from  one  master  mind,  as  it  appeared  in  Jesus  ; 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 


but  from  the  cooperation  of  kindred  minds  under  the 
assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  has  been  promised 
to  the  true  followers  of  Christ.  He  seemed  to  be 
pleased  with  this  idea,  and  then  spoke  of  the  princi- 
pal object  of  our  elevating  our  souls  to  God.  It  is 
not  the  knowledge  of  God  which  the  soul  seeks,  so 
much  as  it  strives  to  find  the  object  of  that  infinite 
love,  which  is  the  very  life  of  our  minds. 

"  6th.  Conversation  with  Grater  about  the  nature 
of  what  is  called  dissonance.  I  thought  it  consists  in 
two  notes  interfering  with  each  other,  so  as  not  to  be 
capable  of  being  heard  together  without  partly  de- 
stroying one  another.  Harmonious  sounds  may  be 
heard  together,  without  jarring  against  one  another. 
Grater  tried  to  explain  it  by  the  different  vibrations. 
The  harmonious  sounds  probably  vibrate  in  equal  pro- 
portions, the  discords  in  irrational  quantities.  Then 
he  thought  it  resembled  discordant  colors.  Disso- 
nance seems  to  be  the  same  thing  in  sounds  and 
colors  as  in  ideas,  one  contradicting  another.  With 
respect  to  sounds  and  colors,  we  have  observed  the 
feeling  of  displeasure,  and  have  made  this  feeling  the 
characteristic  of  the  phenomenon,  which  can  certainly 
not  be  explained  in  this  manner.  But  I  think  that 
the  idea,  that  one  sound  prevents  the  other,  partly, 
from  being  heard  at  the  same  time,  comes  nearer  to 
an  explanation.  I  recollect  an  observation  of  my 
eldest  brother,  that  natural  music,  as  the  roaring  of 
the  wind,  or  water,  never  produces  any  discord  ;  and 
that  whatever  music  men  may  make,  the  former  is 
always  a  fit  accompaniment  for  it.  This  agrees  in 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         209 

some  respect  with  the  idea  of  Newton,  that  the  sun- 
light contains  all  colors,  which  appear  singly  when 
broken  on  objects.  This  is  the  case  with  the  music 
of  Nature,  as  I  observed  last  winter,  that  the  ^Eolian 
harp  produces  the  harshest  dissonances,  as  well  as  the 
most  harmonious  sounds,  when  the  strings  are  not 
tuned  alike. 

"  In  the  evening  I  went  to  Miss  C 's,  where 

Miss  R was.     I  read  to  them   some   extracts 

from  Faust,  translated  by  Gower,  so  as  to  give  an 
idea  of  the  whole.  I  had  to  take  some  pains  to  avert 
all  prejudice  with  respect  to  the  supposed  immorality 
of  the  piece.  Introductory  scene  in  Heaven  ;  that 
is,  that  Heaven,  which  popular  Christian  mythology, 
partly  founded  on  Jewish  notions,  has  imagined.  The 
beginning  like  the  Book  of  Job  ;  Faust,  mistaking 
the  feeling  of  deep  worldly  desire,  which  he  has 
neither  satisfied  nor  overcome,  for  a  disappointment 
of  his  most  ardent  and  infinite  desire  of  knowledge. 
After  he  had  been  scorned  by  the  spirit,  which  he  had 
raised,  and  after  his  design  of  finding  out,  through 
death,  those  secrets,  which  in  this  life  he  could  not 
discover,  had  been  changed  by  the  anthem  of  Easter, 
he  yields  to  the  tempter,  who  promises  satisfaction  of 
his  glowing  desires.  The  same  thing  we  have  seen 
in  fanatics  becoming  a  prey  to  frantic  lust ;  and  Gothe 
has  here  unfolded  a  true  phenomenon  of  the  soul,  on- 
ly substituting  magic  glare  for  the  fire  of  fanaticism. 
The  soliliquy  of  the  Devil,  after  Faust  has  retired  to 
get  himself  ready  for  the  journey  of  life,  shows  this 
idea  ;  despising  the  legitimate  exertions  of  the  intel- 
18* 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 


lect,  because  they  cannot  produce  the  desired  effects, 
and  seeking  to  obtain  them  by  supernatural  means. 
There  remains  enough  excellence  in  Faust,  even  after 
his  fall,  to  preserve  our  interest  in  him.  Margaret 
full  of  young  innocence  and  affection ;  but  her  moral 
character,  consisting  more  in  unacquaintance  with 
evil  than  in  active  virtue,  exhibits  another  phenome- 
non of  the  soul,  as  true  as  it  is  distressing.  Her  fall, 
through  womanly  vanity,  and  implicit  confidence,  and 
giving  up  herself  entirely  to  the  object  of  her  love. 
Her  final  triumph  over  the  power  of  evil,  by  refusing 
the  proffered  liberty,  and  by  expiating  her  sin  by 
her  death.  The  claims  of  Hell  refuted  by  the  pardon 
of  Heaven.  Her  last  words,  'Henry!  Henry!' 
which  seern  to  imply  a  power  of  reclaiming,  perhaps 
at  a  remote  time,  even  him  to  virtue.  Thus  the  piece 
ends,  precisely  where  the  moral  and  poetical  taste  of 
the  reader  requires  its  end. 

"  It  seemed  to  produce  a  great  effect  on  my  hear- 
ers. Afterwards  we  conversed  on  happiness  being 
the  ultimate  object  of  all  our  actions  ;  moral  happi- 
ness, in  opposition  to  sensual  gratification,  requires  a 
struggle  with  our  sensual  self.  That  moral  happiness 
has  been  mistaken  (also  by  Paley)  for  a  kind  of  refin- 
ed selfishness.  He  overlooked  the  circumstance, 
that  the  tendency  of  our  moral  self  is  entirely  disinter- 
ested and  general,  (perfection  in  general  being  its 
object)  ;  and  that  any  idea,  in  order  to  become  a  motive 
of  an  action,  must  please  us  ;  becoming  thus  an  ob- 
ject of  our  feelings,  a  cause  of  our  happiness,  and,  on 
this  account,  desirable.  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  211 

how  Miss  C defended  this  idea,  which  we  had 

once  before  discussed  together.  Miss  R agreed 

with  us.  Miss  S.  C — —  defended  the  idea  of  Kant, 
that  the  performance  of  duty  has  nothing  to  do  with 
our  regard  to  our  happiness  ;  that  the  looking  out  for 
a  reward  spoils  our  moral  actions.  She  overlooked, 
that  the  certain  expectation  of  moral  happiness  does 
not  free  us  from  the  necessity  of  a  struggle  with  our 
passions,  which  tend  to  sensual  gratification,  without 
any  moral  exertion  ;  and  that  this  very  struggle,  un- 
dertaken in  the  expectation  of  moral  happiness,  con- 
stitutes the  character  of  virtue.  Miss  R gave 

me  a  new  book  ;  she  wanted  me  to  write  the  first 
thoughts  in  it ;  she  would  not  have  it  called  an  album. 

"  7th.  The  whole  day  at  home.  In  the  evening 
went  to  see  Mrs.  Randolph.  She  told  me  of  the 
beautiful  birds  of  Virginia.  The  three  mocking  birds 
of  her  father,  Thomas  Jefferson.  One  of  them  with 
him  at  Washington,  during  his  presidency.  The  bird 
commonly  in  his  room,  on  his  foot,  knee,  or  shoulder, 
and  puffed  up  his  plumes  angrily  whenever  a  stranger 
approached. 

"  8th.     I  wrote  in  Miss  R 's  book. 

"'To  Miss  R— 

"  '  Amidst  the  infinite  variety  of  features,  by  which 
the  minds  of  individuals  are  characterized,  there  is  a 
family  likeness  by  which  all  the  children  of  God,  in 
whatever  part  of  the  earth  they  are  born,  and  where- 
soever they  meet,  are  sure  of  recognising  each  other. 
This  truth,  to  which  I  owe  the  assurance  of  your 


212  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

friendship,  has  enabled  both  you  and  me  to  find  be- 
yond the  sea  a  home,  and  a  circle  of  kindred  minds, 
which  long  to  see  that  fire  burn,  which  our  blessed 
friend  in  Heaven  came  to  kindle  here  on  earth.  You 
have  shown  us,  by  your  example,  that  the  principle  of 
an  immediate  divine  influence  on  the  human  mind, 
while  it  punishes  with  madness  the  fanatic  who  abuses 
it,  is  in  reality  the  perfection  of  a  genuine  Christian 
character.  Like  a  holy  fire,  it  consumes  all  earthly 
affections,  which  we  offer  up  on  the  altar  of  our  own 
heart,  and  fills  our  whole  being  with  light  and  warmth. 
It  is  the  sky-light,  which  at  once  illumines  the  whole 
gallery  of  sacred  paintings,  exhibited  in  the  word  of 
God  ;  parts  of  which  may  indeed  be  illustrated  by 
lights  from  various  sides,  while,  in  its  full  truth  and 
glory,  it  appears  only  when  lighted  up  by  the  same 
heavenly  ray,  which  sustained  and  directed  those, 
whose  characters  are  there  depicted. 

"  '  I  rejoice  that  this  book,  offered  to  me,  in  order 
that  through  my  writing  it  might  cease  to  be  an  album, 
affords  me  an  opportunity  of  performing  toward  you 
the  duty  of  true  gratitude,  which  in  my  opinion  con- 
sists in  giving  to  those,  who  have  endeavoured  to  pro- 
mote our  happiness,  the  hearty  assurance,  that  their 
labor  has  not  been  in  vain.  C.  F. 

**  '  Cambridge,  8  December,  1827.' 

"  Grater  sick  all  day.     Mrs.  W sends  jellies, 

&c.  According  to  him,  I  am  a  Christian  up  to  the  arms 
(according  to  a  Swabian  proverb)  ;  the  heart  Chris- 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         213 

tian,  the  arms  somewhat  violent,   and  the  head  too 
much  directed  to  the  outward  world. 

"  12th.  Grater  better.  Conversation  about  Her- 
der ;  his  capacity  of  conceiving  and  regarding  the  in- 
dividuality of  nations,  men,  productions  of  art,  and 
literature.  His  '  Balde  Ideen  zur  Gesch.  d.  Ph.,' 
which  gave  all  the  valuable  ideas  in  the  German  phi- 
losophy of  nature.  His  '  Stimmen  derVolker.' 

"We  spoke  about  the  conception  of  beauty,  which 
he,  like  Jean  Paul,  thinks  undefinable.  I  think  gen- 
eral beauty  consists  in  infinite  variety,  and  harmony. 
This  is  the  beauty  of  the  universe.  With  respect  to 
single  things,  we  find  them  more  or  less  beautiful,  as 
they  more  or  less  express  the  idea  of  the  universe. 
Then  we  talked  of  Kant's  Categories.  System  of 
Oken  explained. 

"  13th.  In  the  morning  went  in  to  see  Mrs.  Hegel, 
in  the  hospital.  Found  her  better.  Then  to  Lieber, 
who  read  to  me  a  letter  from  Niebuhr,  who  had  pro- 
cured him  the  appointment  as  a  correspondent  for  the 
'  Allg.  Zeitung  und  Morgenblatt.'  It  contained  ex- 
cellent views  of  the  duties  of  such  a  correspondent. 
Facta,  facia.  The  correspondent  is  the  ambassador 
of  the  public,  not  of  the  journal. 

"  Meeting  at  Dr.  Channing's.  Subject,  grati- 
tude. More  gentlemen  present  than  on  former  occa- 
sions. Judge  Davis  asked,  that  the  principal  ques- 
tion of  the  last  meeting  might  be  stated.  Dr.  Chan- 
ning  did  it  in  this  manner  ;  whether  gratitude  was  a 
feeling  distinct  from  general  benevolence,  and  whether 
it  imposed  on  us  particular  duties  toward  the  benefac- 


214  LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

tor  ?     I  tried    to  fix  it  more  distinctly,    by  asking, 
whether  the  regard  due  to  gratitude  could  alter  those 
moral  obligations,  which  were  enjoined  on  us  by  jus- 
tice and  kindness  ?  as  in  the  case  where  we  are  able 
to  save  either  a  benefactor  of  mankind,  or  one  who  is 
only  our  personal  benefactor.     I  mentioned,  that  in 
the  case  of  Fenelon  and  the  parent,  we  had  mixed  up 
other  relations  with  that  of  benefits  conferred,  and  that 
it  implied  a  degree  of  uncertainty  with  respect  to  the 
relative  importance  of  the  two  individuals.     There- 
fore this  was  not  an  appropriate  example.    Dr.  Chan- 
ning  stated  a  difference  between  moral  and  instinctive 
gratitude.     The  latter  is  a  natural  tendency,  excited 
by  the  fact  of  benefit  conferred  on  us  ;  the  former 
founded  on  reflection.     He  said,  that  from  instinctive 
gratitude  persons  are  excited  to  do  acts,  which  their 
moral  sense,  and  perhaps  their  benefactor  himself,  do 
not  wholly  approve.     Mr.  Russell  observed,  that  this 
seemed  to  decide  the  question  with  respect  to  Fene- 
lon and  the  parent ;  as  we  in  such  a  moment  should 
not  be  allowed  any  reflection,  but  act  from  instinctive 
gratitude,  and  probably  save  him  who  is  nearest.    Mr. 
Sedgwick  observed,  that  this   could  not  decide  the 
question  at  all,  as  a  person  must  be  supposed  capable 
of  exercising  his  reason,  in  order  to  determine  which 
of  two  possible  actions  his  reason  approves.  I  thought 
it  not  worth  while  to  add,  that  it  is  our  duty  so  to  use 
our  reason,  so  to  settle  our  principles,  that,  in  a  mo- 
ment which  requires  immediate  action,  we  act  only 
from  our  rational  instinct,  or  that  reason  then  may  act 
instinctively.     Dr.  Channing  said,  as  an  evidence  of 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  215 

gratitude  being  not  a  selfish,  but  a  generous  principle, 
that  the  most  noble  characters  are  most  grateful.  I 
agreed  with  him,  with  respect  to  the  excellence  of  the 
sentiment  itself,  but  mentioned  that  it  might  be  mixed 
with  a  very  servile  character.  Thus  Europe  shows 
us  a  great  number  of  slaves  and  villains  out  of  grati- 
tude. Judge  Davis  remarked,  that  other  duties  may 
outweigh  that  of  gratitude,  as  when  a  judge  has  to  de- 
cide a  cause  between  his  enemy  and  his  benefactor. 

"Mr.  Sedgwick  then  proposed  the  question,  if  we 
may  save  either  thousands,  for  instance  an  army,  or 
only  one  benefactor.  Dr.  Channing  agreed,  that,  in  this 
case,  the  thousands  must  have  the  preference  ;  that, 
in  such  strong  and  clear  cases,  our  duty  is  evident ; 
but  he  asked  me  whether  this  suited  my  views  entire- 
ly ?  I  answered  that  it  does,  and  that  his  argument 
decides,  also,  the  case  of  last  evening,  between  Fene- 
lon  and  the  parent.  For  Fenelon  was  at  that  time  not 
mentioned  as  Fenelon  and  the  parent  not  as  a  parent  ; 
but  the  latter  as  merely  a  personal  benefactor  of  him 
who  is  to  act,  and  the  other  as  a  benefactor  of  man- 
kind, who  must  be  ranked  as  those  thousands,  who 
are  to  be  preferred  to  one,  however  we  may  be  in- 
debted to  him.  He  answered,  that  last  evening  we 
had  taken  this  for  granted,  that  the  relative  merit  and 
worth  of  the  two  individuals  was  clear. 

"  I  proceeded  to  state  my  definition  of  true  grati- 
tude, which  consists  in  the  desire  of  showing  to  those 
who  have  endeavoured  to  promote  our  happiness,  that 
they  have  obtained  their  object.  If  we  try  to  make 
others  happy,  we  wish,  and  ought  to  wish,  that  they 


216  LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

should  know  not  us,  but  our  motives.  For  this 
knowledge  will  contribute  to  their  happiness,  although 
all  those  means,  by  which  we  intend  otherwise  to  pro- 
mote it,  should  fail.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
greatness  of  the  benefit  cannot  make  up  for  the  mo- 
tive ;  no  benefit  can  produce  that  happiness,  which 
produces  gratitude,  if  that  favor  did  not  spring  from 
the  design  of  promoting  our  happiness.  To  satisfy 
that  interest  of  every  benefactor,  in  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  intention,  is  the  purpose  of  gratitude. 
With  respect  to  other  men  we  need  some  sign,  word, 
or  action,  to  express  this  acknowledgment.  Toward 
our  heavenly  Benefactor,  we  need  only  the  acknowl- 
edgment itself,  the  act  of  the  soul,  which  refers  to 
his  kindness  the  happiness  it  experiences.  This  ac- 
knowledgment is  the  particular  duty  of  gratitude. 
But  kindness  shown  to  us  has  also  a  more  general  in- 
fluence on  us  ;  it  is  an  impulse,  which  awakes  the 
principle  of  love  in  our  hearts,  by  the  law  of  associa- 
tion and  imitation,  as  we  find  that  the  noble  actions 
of  others  remind  us  of  our  own  duties.  But  this 
general  impulse  is  produced  by  any  virtuous  action  of 
others,  whether  we  be  the  object  of  it  or  not.  There- 
fore this  effect  of  kindness  on  the  minds  of  others 
cannot  be  strictly  called  gratitude.  It  seemed  to  be 
the  general  opinion,  that  children,  under  eight  or  nine 
years,  do  not  discover  gratitude  toward  God.  Dr. 
Channing  thought,  the  reason  why  we  commonly  do 
not  succeed  in  inducing  children  to  gratitude  toward 
God,  consists  in  our  not  connecting  this  sentiment 
with  the  prominent  principle  in  childhood,  namely, 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  217 

free  joy.  We  ought  to  represent  to  them  God  as  the 

source  of  their  innocent  enjoyments.  Miss  P 

observed,  that  she  knew  a  child,  who  thanked  God 
sincerely  for  having  a  dancing-school  and  little  balls. 
I  added  to  Dr.  Channing's  remarks,  that  I  thought 
this  principle  the  true  one,  that  we  show  the  children, 
that  even  their  sorrows  and  sufferings  are  intended  for 
their  happiness.  But  as  it  is  with  respect  to  human 
benefactors,  that  we  do  not  feel  grateful  to  them,  un- 
less their  benefits  flowed  from  the  true  purpose  of 
benevolence,  so  we  must  endeavour  to  show  the  chil- 
dren, that  God  desires  their  joy,  has  their  happiness 
at  heart. 

"  14th.  Grater  out  for  the  first  time.  I  wrote  a 
part  of  the  story  of  the  '  German  Girl  '  I  promised  to 
E.  L.  C.  I  feel  some  doubts  with  respect  to  the 
sufficiency  of  my  definition  of  gratitude.  Is  it  not  to 
be  considered  as  the  first  developement  of  the  general 
principle  of  love  out  of  that  of  selfishness  ?  Does  it 
not,  like  family  and  country,  determine  our  next  duties, 
which  are  to  be  performed  if  we  are  not  convinced 
of  higher  ones  claiming  our  activity  in  preference  to 
those  ? 

"  15th.  Dined  at .  There  was  one  person 

at  table,  who  had  some  time  ago  behaved  ill  to- 
ward me,  when  he  was  intoxicated.  I  had  met  him 
afterward,  on  several  occasions,  and  I  had  kept  him 
at  a  distance,  not  from  any  feeling  of  revenge,  but  to 
make  him  feel  the  consequences  his  conduct  deserved. 
It  evidently  caused  him  much  pain  ;  and  so  to-day, 
when  he  approached  me  with  anxiety,  I  offered  him 

VOL.  i.  19 


218  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN, 

my  hand,  and  drank  wine  with  him,  and  had  the  pleas- 
ure to  perceive,  by  his  looks  and  words,  that  I  had 
succeeded  in  calling  up  his  better  nature. 

"  Conversation  with  Grater,  on  fashionable  society, 
which  he  thought  absolutely  reprehensible.  I  men- 
tioned its  benefits,  as  that  swearing  and  bad  language 
are  banished  from  it,  and  fine  manners  and  appear- 
ance are  cultivated.  But  there  are  many  defects,  as, 
if  one  cannot  buy  such  clothes  as  are  worn,  he  is  ex- 
cluded ;  and  many  things  are  done  in  order  to  prevent 
the  poor  from  imitation.  Bad  taste  is  maintained  as 
good  taste,  only  by  riches  and  high  rank.  But  what 
is  really  good  in  high  life,  ought  to  be  made  universal ; 
and  this  extension  of  itself  would  cure  that  which  is 
faulty  in  it. 

"  In  the  evening  went  to  Dr.  Channing's.  He 
made  me  read  to  him,  and  told  me  to  do  so  for  an 
hour,  every  time  I  should  come  to  see  him.  I  read 
a  part  of  Foster's  Introduction  to  his  'Rise  and  Pro- 
gress of  Religion  in  the  Mind.'  There  was  much  sol- 
emn gloom  and  heaviness  in  the  book,  but  some  strik- 
ing passages.  I  spoke  against  preaching  either  joy 
or  sorrow  as  duties  ;  they  are  natural  states  of  the 
mind.  If  mortification  is  the  natural  consequence  of 
a  transition  from  irreligion  to  religion,  it  ought  not  to 
be  preached  against,  nor  the  reverse.  We  ought  to 
preach  happiness  through  exertion,  whether  our  way 
goes  through  tears  or  sunshine. 

"  17th.  Went  to  Mr. 's.  They  tried  to  draw 

me  out  concerning  my  opinion  of  the  first  part  of 
Walter  Scott's  '  Napoleon '  ;  which  I  had  represented 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  219 

as  superficial  and  partial.  I  told  them  simply,  that 
Scott  had  exaggerated  the  good  qualities  of  the  roy- 
alists, and  concealed  or  adorned  their  vices  ;  that  he 
had  shamefully  treated  Lafayette  ;  that  he  had  given 
a  description  of  the  Girondists,  which  exalts  them 
at  the  expense  of  the  Jacobins,  concealing  their  ten- 
dency to  refined  aristocracy  and  atheism  ;  that  he  had 
exaggerated  the  faults  of  the  Jacobins,  and  conceal- 
ed their  great  qualities  ;  that  he  had  confounded  them 
with  their  enemies  the  anarchists  and  atheists,  the 
party  of  Hebert  ;  that  the  motives  he  lends  to  Rob- 
espierre do  not  explain  the  least  action  of  his  life  ; 
that  he  does  not  know,  or  pretends  not  to  know,  that 
the  plan  of  the  Jacobins  was  the  idea  of  the  Abbe  de 
Mably,  and  that  he  does  not  speak  of  the  excellence 
of  their  private  life,  compared  with  that  of  the  other 
parties.  I  spoke  of  Robespierre's  excellent  discourse 
on  Religion,  and  his  mistake  of  introducing  it  by  law 
according  to  the  idea  of  Mably  ;  that  he  destroyed  his 
greatest  supporters,  if  they  proved  to  be  anarchists, 
or  interested  men,  &c.  Mr.  W ,  who  was  pres- 
ent, mentioned,  that  it  was  the  Archbishop  of  Paris, 
who  was  the  principal  agent  in  abolishing  Christianity. 
"  18th.  Meeting  of  the  Society  for  Education  at 
Dr.  Channing's  house.  Subject,  — Teaching  the  an- 
cient languages  to  young  ladies.  This  led  to  the 
subject  of  teaching  languages,  grammatically,  to  chil- 
dren. I  thought  the  natural  way  is  to  teach  chil- 
dren what  they  are  interested  about,  natural  history, 
and  history  of  man,  and  of  the  principles  and  laws 
of  nature  and  human  nature,  (for  instance,  the  power 


220  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

of  conscience,  and  the  essence  of  virtue,  which  is 
self-exertion)  as  much  as  their  minds  are  capable 
of  conceiving.  Nouns,  pronouns,  &c.,are  things  en- 
tirely strange  to  their  mind.  I  remarked,  that  natural 
phenomena  ought  to  be  explained  in  such  a  manner, 
as  not  to  rob  the  imagination  of  its  share  in  the  view 
of  nature  ;  that  the  being  acquainted  with  the  process 
of  combustion,  does  not  imply  a  cessation  of  the  en- 
joyment of  its  beauty.  I  enjoy  the  beauty  of  a  paint- 
ing, although  I  know  how  it  is  made.  With  regard 
to  a  remark  of  Dr.  Channing's,  that  teaching  grammar 
exercises  the  power  of  discriminating  and  arranging 
objects,  I  said,  that  the  same  powers  might  be  more 
effectually  exercised  upon  natural  objects,  showing 
their  more  or  less  general  or  peculiar  qualities,  ac- 
cording to  which  they  are  to  be  classified.  I  insisted 
upon  the  principle  of  the  developement  of  the  natural 
curiosity. 

"  19th.  Beginning  of  our  college  vacation  for  a 
fortnight.  In  the  morning  I  wrote  upon  my  story, 
'  The  German  Girl.'  The  main  part  is  true,  name- 
ly, her  being  a  poor  girl  without  advantages  of  educa- 
tion ;  that  considerable  offers  were  made  to  her  for  her 
hair  ;  that  she  declined  them,  and  afterwards  brought 
it  to  the  public  auction  secretly,  as  a  patriotic  gift. 
This  the  lady  herself,  Bertha  Werner,  then  the  wife 
of  the  privy  counsellor  of  finances,  Bar,  told  my 
brother  in  Wetzlar. 

"  In  the  evening  a  long  discussion  with  the  Miss 
C s  about  conscience.  E< startled  at  my  re- 
mark, that  conscience  consisted  only  in  approving  or 
disapproving  the  degree  in  which  we  use  our  own  pow« 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  221 

ers,  without  speaking  of  certain  actions.  Therefore 
many  persons  think  and  act  conscientiously  wrong. 
She  supposed  conscience  to  be  the  immediate  influ- 
ence and  voice  of  God  within  us.  Whereas  I  con- 
sidered it  as  merely  the  act  of  our  own  nature,  judg- 
ing itself ;  therefore,  not  immediately  connected  with 
religion.  They  agreed,  that  conscience  is  the  source 
of  feeling,  namely,  happiness  or  misery,  according  to 
our  own  conduct,  and  not  a  source  of  ideas  or  per- 
ceptions. 

"  20th.     Reading    party  in    the    evening  at  Mrs. 

S.  C 's.     I  read  extracts  from  '  Faust,'  as  on  a 

former  occasion   at   Miss  C 's.     I   did  it  at  the 

request  of  Mrs.  C .  They  all  seemed  deeply  im- 
pressed, and  said,  that  Shakspeare  alone  wrote  with 

such  power.     Miss   C asked  me  how  I  could 

have  read  the  Devil's  part  so  well.     I  replied,  that  it 

came  very  natural  to  me.     Mrs.  Dr.  B told  me, 

that  I  had  made  converts  of  her  and  some  other  la- 
dies to  my  views  on  gratitude. 

"  21st.  Read  my  story  to  Miss in  the  morn- 
ing. I  liked  my  patriotic  little  girl  still  better,  after 
it  had  been  christened  by  the  consecrated  waters  of 
sympathy. 

"  22d.  It  took  me  almost  the  whole  day  to  mod- 
ify and  copy  my  story.  In  the  evening  I  brought  it 
and  read  it  again  to  her  and  her  brothers  and  sisters, 
upon  whom  it  had  the  same  effect  as  upon  her.* 


*  This  little  story  was  published  in  the  "  Sequel  "  to  the  "  Well- 
Spent  Hour." 

19* 


222  LIFE   OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  26th.  Conversation  with  Grater  about  the  cele- 
bration of  Christmas  in  Germany.  In  this  country, 
no  feasts  for  the  children.  Such  festivals  for  the 
feelings  would  be  a  great  improvement  of  the  moral 
state  of  the  nation. 

"  Argument  about  universal,  infallible  preconcep- 
tion ;  whether  it  can  logically  subsist  with  human  lib- 
erty. He  supposed,  I  thought,  the  foresight  the 
cause  of  the  event.  But  I  told  him,  that  the  pre- 
conception had  for  its  object  the  event,  and  could 
fail,  or  not  fail,  only  as  the  event  either  happened  or 
not.  He  did  not  perceive  the  absolute  correlative- 
ness  between  the  infallibility  of  the  event  and  the  in- 
fallibility of  preconception. 

U27th.  In  the  evening,  meeting  at  Dr.  Channing's. 

Mr.  F was  so  kind  as  to  send  me  his  chaise. 

Subject,  —  the  power  of  our  will  over  our  own  hap- 
piness. Dr.  Channing  was  unwell.  Mr.  H.  W 

gave  some  fine  illustrations  of  passages  in  Scripture, 
showing  that  the  tendency  of  Christianity  is  to  make 
us  happy  in  this  life,  as  well  as  in  that  which  is  to 
come. 

"  Dr.  Channing  thought  it  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  make  those,  who  are  deprived  of  the  com- 
forts of  life,  acquainted  with  their  infinitely  greater 
treasure  in  their  own  breast.  I  made  the  distinction 
between  natural  and  moral  happiness,  each  of  them 
being  a  true  source  of  happiness.  Natural  happi- 
ness comprises  all  that  good  which  may  be  acquired 
without  free  exertion.  Our  gratification  from  noble 
as  well  as  low  pursuits  of  our  nature,  belong  to  natu- 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  223 

ral  happiness,  unless  it  has  cost  us  an  effort.  Indulg- 
ing in  innocent  pleasures,  which  the  circumstances  of 
prosperity  offer,  and  conquering  adversity,  are  the 
two  sources  of  the  different  kinds  of  happiness.  The 
Stoics  recognised  only  the  moral,  the  Epicureans  the 
natural  happiness. 

"  Dr.  Channing  thought,  the  greatest  possible  ener- 
gy of  all  our  powers,  moral  courage  in  particular,  the 
corner-stone  of  our  happiness.  This  is  certainly 
the  true  ground  and  measure  of  our  happiness.  I  re- 
joiced in  hearing  thus  the  deepest  result  of  my  think- 
ing acknowledged,  yet,  as  far  as  I  see,  not  yet  pur- 
sued to  all  its  consequences.  The  question,  wheth- 
er duty  is  to  be  performed  for  the  sake  of  duty  or  for 
happiness,  was  started,  but  not  answered. 

"  On  the  whole,  the  discussion  was  very  prepara- 
tory. Judge  D requested  rne  to  give,  next  time, 

the  views  of  the  Stoics.  After  the  meeting  I  went 
to  Mrs.  's  party.  Beautiful  dancing  of  Miss 


28th.  I  was  writing  on  my  grammar.  In  the  eve- 
ning I  went  to  Dr.  H 's  and  to  Mr.  N 's, 

where  I  found  Mr.  F .  Conversation  on  war. 

Mr.  F defended  it  as  a  means  of  Providence. 

War  stands  on  the  same  ground  with  the  exercise  of 
force  in  general.  Society  is  constantly  at  war  with 
transgressors  of  the  laws. 

"  29th.  Evening  at  Miss 's.  In  the  day  I 

wrote  on  the  German  Grammar. 

"  30th.  Dr.  C too  unwell  to  preach.  I 

went  to  Mr.  G 's.  In  going  to  church  I  talked 


224  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

with  Grater  on  the  manner,  in  which  we  have  to 
represent  to  our  conscious  mind,  that  influence  which 
we  call  inspiration.  All  physical  objects  are  con- 
ceived by  us  through  impressions  upon  our  senses. 
All  nature,  and  all  the  doings  of  men,  become  a  col- 
lection of  signs,  a  language  for  us.  But  the  pure  acts 
of  our  minds  speak  to  us  without  this  mediation  of 
our  senses.  They  are  themselves  a  language  to  us. 
The  mind  seems  constantly  acting  as  before  a  mirror, 
else  it  would  be  impossible  to  explain  the  concomi- 
tant consciousness  of  all  intellectual  functions.  God 
gives  us  thoughts  where  we  need  them.  His  thoughts 
are  communicated  to  us  as  such.  They  speak  to  us. 
This  is  one  phenomenon  of  inspiration.  The  general 
invigoration  of  our  mind  through  direct  influence  is  a 
more  common  phenomenon,  and  the  communication 
of  miraculous  power  the  rarest  of  all  these  gifts  of  the 
inspiring  mind  of  God.  Grater  thinks,  thai  our  union 
with  God  consists  in  our  consciousness  obtaining 
another  centre  than  our  own  self.  We  are  conscious 
of  God,  or  .rather  God  is  conscious  of  himself  in  us. 
But  this  annihilation  of  our  own  self  seems  to  be 
founded  on  a  mistake,  common  to  all  pantheistic 
mysticism. 

"  In  the  evening,  went  to  see  Dr.  C ,  where 

I  met  Mr.  J.  P .  Dr.  C unwell  and  low- 
spirited  ;  but,  as  the  conversation  became  interesting 
to  him,  his  genius  revived  in  its  full  power.  He 

asked  me  my  idea  about  God.     Mr.  P said,  that 

he  knew  of  the  character  of  God,  only  so  much,  that 
he  wills  our  happiness.  I  agreed,  that  this  was  the 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN.  225 

most  important  conception  of  his  relation  to  us. 
Creative  Power,  Providence,  and  Design  to  make  us 
happy,  are  his  essential  attributes.  I  believe  him  an 
intelligent  and  feeling  Being,  and  desiring  our  hap- 
piness. He  feels  ;  therefore,  he  is  pleased  or  dis- 
pleased by  our  actions,  as  they  either  correspond  or 
disagree  with  his  desire  of  our  happiness.  Only  that 
which  is  the  characteristic  of  that  rank  of  existence, 
which  we  occupy  among  created  beings,  cannot  be 
made  a  characteristic  of  the  Deity,  namely,  that  we 
arrive  at  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  only  by  self- 
exertion.  Therefore  I  consider  the  Deity  as  a  per- 
sonal Being,  though  I  cannot  ascribe  to  him  the  attri- 
bute of  human  virtue. 

"  I  censured,  in  Unitarian  preaching,  the  want  of 
regard  to  those  tender  and  exalted  feelings  of  piety, 
which  many  Orthodox  combine  with  their  erroneous 
notions.  According  to  the  natural  attempt  of  men, 
to  bring  an  idea  home  to  themselves,  by  interpreting 
it  in  a  manner  in  which  they  can  comprehend  it,  they 
express  their  conception  of  things  beyond  their  rea- 
son, by  notions  contrary  to  their  reason,  as  the  trin- 
ity, &c.  But,  in  a  rude  state  of  religious  cultivation, 
these  irrational  ideas  have  the  merit  of  preserving  the 
idea  of  things  beyond  our  reason.  They  approved 
of  these  observations. 

"  I  spent  the  evening  with  Dr.  Channing.  I  trans- 
lated from  Degerando  into  English.  Speaking  of 
Socrates,  he  remarked,  that  the  intellectual  cultivation 
among  the  Athenians  must  have  been  much  higher 
than  among  us,  where  if  a  man  should,  like  Socra- 


226  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

tes,  go  about  to  instruct  his  fellow  citizens,  whoever 
went  to  hear  him  would  be  laughed  at. 

"  We  talked  upon  the  principle  of  happiness.  I 
told  him,  I  thought  happiness  the  feeling,  which  ex- 
presses the  agreement  of  the  state  of  our  existence 
with  our  natural  tendency.  What  does  that  consist 
in  ?  Its  next  object,  which  implies  every  other,  is 
the  most  perfect  use  of  all  our  faculties, — the  great- 
est possible  activity.  '  What  if  a  man  should  find 
the  greatest  sphere  of  his  activity  in  destroying,  if, 
by  destroying,  he  should  acquire  new  means  of  de- 
stroying ? ' 

"  I  replied,  if  there  were  such  a  chance  for  infinite 
activity  in  destroying,  he  would  feel  happy  ;  and,  as 
far  as  he  finds  room  for  activity  in  destroying,  he  is 
happy,  else  he  would  cease  to  act  in  this  way.  And, 
as  far  as  his  activity  and  exertion  are  concerned,  in 
the  vigorous  creation  and  use  of  means,  we  justly  ad- 
mire him  (take  a  Napoleon  or  a  Caesar).  But,  as  to 
his  end  we  condemn  him,  because  his  conscience 
tells  him,  that  there  is  a  higher  degree  of  activity 
which  he  has  not  attained,  namely,  to  conquer 
his  passions,  which  confine  him  to  a  certain  limited 
mode  of  activity.  There  is  a  chance  in  the  universe 
for  endless  activity,  if  it  is  directed  to  promote  per- 
fection ;  because  this  is  the  law  of  the  universe, 
which  man  is  destined  in  part  to  realize.  But  a  ten- 
dency toward  imperfection  limits  itself  the  more  it 
progresses.  He,  who  destroys  a  shell,  a  plant,  an 
animal,  a  man,  deprives  himself  of  an  opportunity  of 
exercising  his  own  powers.  Take,  for  instance,  the 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


intemperate  man  ;  he  destroys  the  means  of  his  ac- 
tivity ;  so  the  uncharitable  man,  and  the  oppressor. 
There  seems  to  be  an  extent  of  power  in  oppression, 
but  in  reality  it  is  a  limitation  ;  for  the  influence  upon 
free  beings  is  much  more  perfect.  The  atheist  in  his 
pride  is  more  imperfect  than  the  most  rude  and  con- 
fined worshipper  of  the  Deity  ;  for  the  former  wants 
essentially  that  deepest  and  greatest  effort  of  the 
mind,  of  which  the  other  possesses,  at  least,  a  degree. 

"  The  most  general  characteristic  of  mind  is  activ- 
ity. Life  is  the  manifestation  of  mind  in  the  body  ; 
death  is  cessation  of  action.  Sleep  and  rest  are 
grateful  only  in  as  far  as  they  contribute  to  new  and 
greater  activity.  Tendency  is  activity,  which  is  re- 
strained from  a  full  vent  by  an  obstacle.  Desire  is 
tendency  with  consciousness  and  feeling.  The  feel- 
ing of  pleasure  and  pain,  happiness  and  unhappiness, 
are  emotions,  which  express  the  suitableness  or  inad- 
equacy of  the  state  we  are  in,  to  that  state  to  which 
we  tend  or  desire.  It  is  very  important  to  consider, 
that  our  desire  itself  is  a  source  of  happiness  ;  its 
own  existence  implies  a  degree  of  satisfaction,  and  is 
consequently  in  part  its  own  object.  Our  desire, 
sometimes,  includes  all  our  happiness,  when  death  has 
robbed  us  of  its  object. 

"  January  6th.  Attended  worship  here  in  Cam- 
bridge all  day.  One  remark  of  Dr.  Ware  struck  me 
as  relating  to  the  principal  subject  of  my  thoughts. 
He  spoke  of  that  property  of  our  nature,  by  which 
man's  happiness  ends  where  his  activity  ceases. 

"  In  the  evening  went  to  Mr.  N 's.     He  and 


228  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

Mrs.  N praised  my  story  of  the  '  German  Girl,' 

and  made  me  promise,  if  I  wrote  another,  to  read  it 
to  them.  Miss  C had  read  it  to  them. 

u  7th.  I  had  a  dream,  as  in  childhood.  I  watched 
a  chrysalis.  I  soon  saw  a  nachtpfauenauge,*  which 
had  come  out  of  it.  It  seemed  to  have  been  there 
unperceived  for  some  time,  and  it  pained  me  to  think 
that  it  was  near  dying  for  want  of  food.  I  soon  saw 
in  the  place  of  "it  a  beautiful  distdfink]  on  my  cham- 
ber floor,  which  ran  right  into  the  fire  on  the  hearth, 
and  out  of  it  again,  and,  though  its  wing  touched  a 
burning  coal  as  it  came  out  of  the  fire,  it  was  not 
burned  at  all. 

"  In  the  evening  I  went  to  Mr.  Folsom's.  They 
like  Wordsworth.  They  made  me  acquainted  with  a 
poem,  by  Halleck,  an  American,  which  showed  a 
power  of  contrasting  and  mixing  sublimity  and  hu- 
mor, and  a  universality  of  judgment  in  comprehend- 
ing the  greatness  and  beauty  in  feudal  times,  as  well 
as  of  that  of  republicanism.  His  '  Connecticut.' 

"  Man  exhibits  a  specimen  of  a  power,  which  is 
able  to  produce  effects,  not  only  various,  but  opposed 
to  one  another.  Every  human  being  desires  the  per- 
petual identity,  and  most  various  and  harmonious  ac- 
tivity of  himself. 

"  8th.     In  the  evening  I  went  to  see  Dr.  C . 

Miss  C had    read    to   him   and    Mrs.  ,  my 

story  of  the  'German  Girl,'  and  they  both  expressed 
satisfaction.  He  advised  me  to  read  Miss  Edge- 
worth, —  on  account  of  her  pure,  familiar  style. 

*  A  beautiful  kind  of  butterfly.  t  A  green  finch. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  229 

"  9th.  Went  to  visit  Miss  C .  Told  her  of 

my  plan  to  induce  Mr.  H.  Sedgwick  to  undertake  to 
write  a  Practical  Law  Catechism,  to  be  introduced  in 
all  public  schools.  After,  and  with,  religious  edu- 
cation, that  in  law  is  most  important  ;  and,  as  it  will 
put  every  one  in  possession  of  the  knowledge  of  his 
rights  and  duties,  it  will,  by  degrees,  take  the  peo- 
ple out  of  the  hands  of  the  lawyers,  and  prepare  im- 
provement in  legislation.  To  judge  from  Mr.  Sedg- 
wick's  pamphlet  on  the  English  Practice,  and  his 
great  interest  in  education,  and  his  capacity  for  easy 
and  interesting  productions,  he  is  eminently  qualified. 
At  the  same  time,  as  school-books  are  very  profitable, 
this  book  would  give  our  friend,  who  has  lost  his  eye- 
sight, a  convenient  aid  to  his  support. 

"  10th.  I  read  to  Professor  Channing  in  the  morn- 
ing, who  was  so  kind  as  to  offer  his  assistance  in  pro- 
nunciation. I  pronounce  the  r  too  strong  in  such 
words  as  power,  matter,  &c.  In  the  evening  I  spoke 
with  Mr.  Sedgwick  about  the  book.  It  should  con- 
tain nothing  but  positive  law,  and  not  law  of  reason, 
on  account  of  its  different  interpretation.  It  would 
be  best  to  divide  the  book  into  historical  and  dog- 
matical parts.  The  first  giving  an  account  of  the 
history  of  the  common  law,  the  Roman  law,  and  the 
American  law.  The  dogmatical  part  should  give  the 
civil,  penal,  and  political  law  of  the  country  ;  mere- 
ly pointing  out  that  which  actually  exists,  without  any 
additional  reasoning.  He  said,  that  the  dogmatical 
part  would  not  be  the  same  in  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try, except  the  laws  of  the  Union.  But  he  thought 

VOL.  i.  20 


230  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

my  proposition,  with  respect  to  these,  very  impor- 
tant ;  and  he  would  think  of  it.  He  thought  himself 
qualified  for  the  undertaking,  as  he  felt  conscious  of 
his  not  being  enchanted  with  the  technicalities  of  the 
law,  but  that  his  whole  mind  was  directed  to  make 
every  thing  clear  to  every  one.  I  told  him  the  best 
way  would  be  to  adopt  the  method  of  Jeremy  Bent- 
ham,  in  his  work  on  legislation,  laying  down  one 
comprehensive  rule  after  another,  and  illustrating  it  by 
at  least  one  appropriate  example.  I  warned  him,  with 
respect  to  positive  law,  as  well  as  to  every  kind  of 
historical  writing,  against  that  weakness  of  our  time, 
that  no  one  possesses  sufficient  self-denial  to  write  a 
history,  without  in  part  making  it  by  mixing  con- 
stantly his  own  opinions  with  the  representation  of 
facts.  No  true  history  has  been  written. 

"  With  respect  to  the  historical  part,  he  thought 
the  history  of  the  Roman  law  of  little  importance  in 
this  country,  as  this  law  prevails  only  in  the  marine 
courts.  It  follows  of  course,  from  the  restriction  of 
my  plan  to  a  mere  representation  of  the  laws  of  the 
United  States,  that  the  history  of  the  common  law  is 
of  less  importance  to  the  work,  though  I  should  still 
think  it  important,  as,  though  differently  modified  in 
each  State,  it  is  the  common  basis  of  the  law  of 
each.  The  history  of  American  legislation  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Mr.  Sedgwick  thought  it  might 
be  well  to  annex  to  the  general  part  of  the  school- 
book,  in  each  of  the  most  important  States,  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  most  essential  principles  of  law  in 
each  of  these.  He  spoke  of  the  extent  to  which  the 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  231 

lawyers  in  this  country  have  the  people  completely  in 
their  power  ;  that,  if  he  had  not  refused  the  offers  of 
a  part  of  the  result  of  the  suit  as  unfair,  he  should  be 

worth  many  hundred  thousands  ;  that  Mr. grows 

rich  by  accepting  such  offers. 

"Uth.  Mrs. 's  tea  party;  very  splendid. 

O !  what  real  happiness  might  be  produced  by  the 
expenses  of  one  such  evening,  which  evidently  gives 
so  little  to  the  persons  who  partake  in  it  !  The 
dancing  is  a  poor  enjoyment  in  these  parties,  mere 
show  ;  while  they  are  scarcely  able  to  turn  about  in 
these  crowded  rooms.  Why  not  engage  one  of  the 
public  halls,  if  you  want  dancing  ?  I  am  told  that, 
even  in  the  largest  houses,  such  parties  cause  a  dis- 
order in  the  house,  which  requires  a  week's  repair. 

"  16th.  In  the  evening  I  met  Mr.  Dewey  at  Dr. 
Channing's.  We  had  a  long  conversation  ;  I  was 
joyfully  surprised  to  hear  him  advocate  the  great  prin- 
ciple, which  Fries  lately  revived  in  Germany,  and 
which  I  defended  in  Rhode  Island,  and  afterward  at 
Dr.  Channing's  house ;  that  the  duty  of  every  human 
being  consists  in  exertion  to  acquire  a  conviction  of 
the  truth,  and  to  act  accordingly. 

"  17th.  Reading  party  at  Miss  S 's.  Mr.  Ad- 
ams read  some  passages  from  '  Paradise  Regained ' ; 
the  temptation  of  Christ.  The  description  of  the 
storm,  and  the  calmness  of  the  Saviour,  is  beautiful ; 
so  is  the  description  of  Athens  by  the  tempter,  who 
says  by  far  better  things  than  the  Son  of  God.  A 
particularly  unbecoming  passage  is  that  where  Jesus 
speaks  of  book  learning. 


232  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  18th.  Every  human  being  tends  to  perpetual, 
most  various,  and  harmonious  self-activity. 

"  In  former  times,  I  have  been  very  desirous  of 
conversing  on  the  last  metaphysical  truths  ;  but  I  am 
now  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  opinion  of  Plato, 
that  this  information  suits  those  only,  who  are  al- 
ready familiar  with  the  subject,  and  really  desirous 
of  finding  the  common  foundation  of  all  knowledge. 
Others  become,  through  such  information,  as  Plato 
observed,  either  filled  with  undeserved  contempt  to- 
ward the  deepest  science,  or  inflated  with  the  belief 
that  they  know  something  exceedingly  curious  and 
extraordinary. 

"  I  have  found  that  I  can  do  much  more  good  by 
endeavouring  to  convince  people  of  certain  conse- 
quences of  the  above  stated  principle,  than  by  leading 
them  on  to  the  metaphysical  speculations,  from  which 
these  consequences  are  derived. 

"  J9th.    Passed  the  evening  at  Miss  C 's.    She 

agrees  with  me  in  the  belief  that  our  own  inspired 
reason  is  the  only  right  foundation  of  our  belief  in 
the  Bible,  and  the  only  true  test  of  what  is  rational 
and  inspired  in  it. 

«  20th.  Judge  Howe  of  Northampton  died  last 
night,  in  Boston  ;  a  fair-minded,  warm-hearted,  inde- 
fatigable, and  enlightened  man,  an  intimate  friend  of 
Miss  C and  Miss  S— r- — . 

"  In  the  evening  Mr.  Dewey  preached  the  lecture, 
upon  the  nature  of  religion  ;  he  said,  '  Religion  is  to 
be  explained,  as  the  suitableness  of  all  our  actions, 
feelings,  and  thoughts,  to  the  exigencies  of  life.  In 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  233 

business  it  is  uprightness  ;  in  pleasure  it  is  innoc  ence 
and  temperance.'  Very  true  as  far  as  it  goes.  Re- 
ligion, indeed,  enters  into  every  thing ;  it  is  in  every 
concern  of  ours,  that  which  is  infinite  and  renders  it 
infinite  ;  in  joy  and  in  exertion,  in  duty  and  in  works 
of  genius.  This  is  the  secret  truth  which  is  express- 
ed in  the  endeavours  of  men  to  treat  all  that  is  spirit- 
ual as  something  foreign,  and  even  averse,  to  worldly 
concerns.  The  expression  of  this  feeling  is  wrong, 
or  at  least  paradoxical  ;  it  is  used  in  the  Bible  to 
rescue  the  highest  interests  of  man  from  all  the  en- 
grossing cares  and  pleasures  of  the  world. 

Passed  the  night  at  Professor  Ticknor's. 

"21st.     In  the  morning  I  rode  out  with  Professor 
Ticknor,  who  told   me  that  he  had  written  to  Mr. 

,  who  was   going  to   Germany,  that,   whenever 

they  should  ask  about  me,  or  Beck,  or  Lieber,  he 
might  tell  them  that  we  are  esteemed  and  beloved 
by  all. 

"  22d.    In  the  evening  I  went  to  see  Miss  C . 

She  told  me  of  the  last  moments  of  Judge  Howe. 
For  some  time  in  a  severe  struggle,  in  which,  not 
only  his  body  seemed  to  suffer,  but  his  spirit  to  sigh 
for  deliverance.  Three  hours  before  his  death,  per- 
fect calmness.  Disclosing  his  will  to  Judge  Lyman ; 
settling  all  his  worldly  concerns.  Addressing  his 
friends,  then  present  ;  mentioning  all  that  was  pleas- 
ant, in  these,  his  last  moments.  His  being  in  the 
house  of  friends  ;  the  arrival  of  his  little  son.  Address- 
ing each  of  the  present  friends.  Speaking  of  his  own 
20* 


234         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

success  in  his  office  as  Judge ;  that  he  repented  of 
no  decision  he  had  ever  made.  That  he  had  some- 
times gone  to  court  undecided,  and  diffident  of  his 
own  powers  ;  praying  earnestly  for  assistance  from 
above.  That  he  had  always  felt,  at  the  right  mo- 
ment, an  uncommon  power  and  clearness,  not  his 
own  ;  beyond  it  ;  and  so  on  all  occasions.  While 
he  was  speaking,  he  at  intervals  prayed  for  confi- 
dence in  his  own  powers,  to  address  his  friends. 
He  most  fervently  recommended  to  them  charity, 
charity  to  all.  When  his  breath  failed,  he  would  lisp, 
1  Charity.' 

"  He  said,  that  if  he  had  lived  longer,  his  purpose 
was,  to  cultivate  his  intellect  still  more.  He  spoke 
of  his  domestic  happiness  ;  advised  one  of  his  friends, 
who  was  present,  to  marry  in  order  to  be  happy. 
Spoke  of  the  devotedness  of  his  wife.  He  alluded 
to  a  dream  he  had  had  some  short  time  before.  He 
stood  on  the  piazza  of  his  house,  enjoying  the  sunny 
prospect  ;  a  mist  arose  and  covered  the  sun.  Then, 
after  some  time,  a  beautiful  sunset. 

14  He  now  mentioned  to  his  wife,  that  he  had  had 
a  presentiment  of  that  moment.  His  wife  spoke  of 
the  beautiful  sunset  he  then  witnessed.  'And  all, 
all  the  mists  are  gone,'  he  replied,  and  fell  asleep. 
After  some  time,  a  slight  twitching  of  the  muscles  of 
his  face  marked  the  departure  of  his  spirit. 

"  The  next  morning  Dr.  Channing  went  and  prayed 
with  his  wife.  She  spoke  of  the  treasure  she  pos- 
sessed in  the  example  of  her  husband,  in  the  educa- 
tion of  her  children.  She  wrote  down  her  recollec- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  235 

tions  of  his  decease.  This  death,  indeed,  preaches 
what  a  whole  life  is  not  sufficient  to  express. 

*'  23d.  Grater.  The  music,  which  the  flame  in 
my  chimney  makes,  beating  against  the  half-vaulted 
walls,  which  spread  the  sound,  like  a  sounding-board, 
through  the  room.  It  reverberates  on  the  windows 
and  looking-glass,  particularly  in  cold,  clear  weather. 

"  24th.  Went  to  Mr.  Ware's  Introductory  Lec- 
ture to  a  Cburse  on  Palestine.  The  whole  very  im- 
pressive and  happy.  Only  there  seemed  to  be  some 
eloquent  partiality,  in  his  account  of  the  merits  of  the 
Greeks,  which  he  first  highly  extolled,  and  then  un- 
dervalued, when  comparing  what  we  owed  them  to 
what  we  owed  to  Judea.  What  would  become  of 
Christianity  itself,  if  classic  learning  had  not  matured 
a  better  judgment  and  taste,  to  find  out  the  pure  gold 
under  the  muddy  waves  of  superstition  and  priestcraft. 
Dr.  Channing,  to  whom  I  gave  an  account  of  the 
lecture,  the  same  evening,  observed,  that  there  is  a 
striking  difference  between  that  which  we  owe  to  the 
Jews  and  what  we  owe  to  the  Greeks.  The  latter 
benefited  the  world  by  their  own  exertions,  while  the 
former  were  passive  recipients  of  divine  light,  even 
with  reluctance  ;  so  that  we  are  very  little  indebted 
to  the  Jews  themselves,  for  the  light  which  we  have 
derived  from  them.  This  is  a  strong  argument  in  fa- 
vor of  the  divine  origin  of  the  religion  of  the  Bible. 
It  seems  to  me,  that  the  exclusiveness  and  obstinacy 
of  the  Jews,  the  most  prominent  feature  in  their  na- 
tional character,  fitted  them  particularly  for  keeping 
up  the  knowledge  of  one  God,  among  the  idolatrous 
nations  of  the  world. 


236  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  The  Bible,  particularly  the  New  Testament,  is 
of  universal  character.  The  simple,  fundamental 
truths  it  contains,  are  more  suited  to  a  European  con- 
ception ;  and  the  style,  the  figures,  the  whole  tone, 
bear  the  Eastern  character. 

"  25th.  Party  at  Mrs.  F 's.  The  Gover- 
nor and  his  lady  there.  When  every  one  was  search- 
ing for  his  hat,  the  Governor  mistook  Mr.  Picker- 
ing's for  his  ;  and  Mr.  Pickering  said,  '  I  wish  my 
hat  might  suit  your  head,  Sir.'  The  Governor 
answered,  '  I  wish  your  head  were  under  my  hat, 
Sir.' 

"  29th.  Meeting  for  Education  at  Dr.  Channing's. 
Separate  religious  instruction  for  children.  No  re- 
sult. I  mentioned  the  fact,  that  children  are  more 
interested  in  the  Catholic,  than  in  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion ;  that,  in  the  actual  state  of  society,  the  best 
means  would  be  partly  to  connect  the  service  with 
the  Sunday  School  ;  and,  the  other  part  of  the  day, 
let  them  go  with  their  parents.  This  part  of  the 
day  ought  to  be  fixed  beforehand  ;  and  then  the  ser- 
mon such  as  would  be  adapted  to  children,  as  well  as 
grown  people. 

"  Social  worship  for  children.  Questioned  as  to 
its  usefulness  ;  particularly  the  prayer,  where  the  min- 
ister addresses  the  highest  Being.  In  the  afternoon, 
reading  with  Professor  Channing. 

"  30th.  I  translated  in  the  evening,  to  Dr.  Chan- 
ning, that  which  Tennemann,  in  his  '  History  of  Phi- 
losophy,' says  about  the  secret  philosophy  of  Plato. 
He  then  made  me  read  a  chapter  in  Rasselas  ;  the 


. 
LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  237 


subject  immortality  ;  particularly  the  negative  proofs. 
Thought  has  no  extension,  no  past  ;  can,  therefore, 
not  be  dissolved  ;  death  is  dissolution. 

"  February  4th.  Visit  to  Dr.  Charming  in  the 
evening.  He  made  me  read  a  letter  of  Burke  con- 
cerning the  French  Revolution,  preaching  a  crusade 
against  the  revolutionary  principle;  the  same  doctrine 
which  now  the  Holy  Alliance  acts  upon.  Conversa- 
tion about  the  Revolution. 

"  The  aristocracy  in  Boston  is  to  be  considered 
a  progress  from  the  rude  ascendency  of  money,  from 
which  it  is  derived,  and  is  still,  in  many  cases,  re- 
cruited. It  is  now,  chiefly,  an  aristocracy  of  man- 
ners. Talent,  wealth,  and  moral  habits  are  acknowl- 
edged as  forming  respectability,  if  they  are  united 
with  good  manners  and  courtesy.  This  aristocracy 
may,  indeed,  be  made  the  means  of  perfecting  the 
system  of  democracy,  a  natural,  political,  and  spirit- 
ual democracy  ;  the  true  kingdom  of  God  and  hu- 
manity. But  as  yet  this  distinction  works  a  great 
deal  of  mischief ;  and  we  need  a  fiery  rain  of  reason 
and  inspiration  to  consume  these  unnatural  relations 
among  men. 

"  8th.  In  the  evening  I  read  with  Miss  C 

and  Miss  D . 

"  9th.  Dined  at  Dr.  Channing's  with  Miss  Sav- 
age. Gave  them  a  description  of  the  life  of  the  stu- 
dents at  Jena. 

"  1 1th.  In  the  evening  I  finished  reading  to  Dr. 
Channing  the  letter  of  Mr.  Burke.  Burke  asserts, 
that  the  whole  revolution  and  republicanism  in  France 


238  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

were  only  a  means  of  conquering  and  ruling  in  Eu- 
rope, the  whole  stirred  up  by  dissatisfied,  ambitious 
statesmen.  But  we  look  in  vain  for  proofs.  He 
seems  to  be  utterly  void  of  historical  sense,  and  re- 
gardless of  truth  where  party  spirit  blinds  him. 

"  12th.  Meeting  for  Education  at  Dr.  Channing's. 
Subject,  public  prayer  ;  general,  and  for  children  in 
particular.  We  agreed,  that,  one  part  of  the  day, 
the  children  might  go  with  their  parents  to  meeting  ; 
and,  for  the  other  part,  their  religious  exercise  should 
be  connected  with  their  Sunday  School. 

"  15th.  Visit  to  Dr.  Channing  in  the  evening. 
He  had  just  read  the  Introduction  of  Cousin  to  '  Gor- 
gias.'  His  idea  is,  that  crime  and  punishment  are 
eternally  connected  in  the  nature  and  conscience  of 
the  transgressor,  that  this  is  the  ground  of  punish- 
ment, and  not  a  view  to  deter  others,  or  to  correct 
the  guilty ;  although  these  two  are  good  consequences 
of  the  punishment.  Punishment,  a  benefit  to  the 
culprit,  to  be  reconciled  to  himself,  and  to  reenter 
the  society  of  the  just.  I  said  to  Dr.  Channing,  that 
this  idea  does  not  settle  the  matter  ;  for  it  does  not 
afford  a  scale  of  punishment,  except  retaliation,  which 
is  in  many  cases  absurd.  That  the  idea  of  deter- 
ring others  would  be  best  carried  on  by  the  laws  of 
Draco,  "  Omnium  delictorum  una  pcena."  That 
correcting  the  individual  to  refit  him  for  society,  in 
as  far  as  he  had  shown  himself  unfit  for  it,  is  the  only 
true  ground  for  punishment.  Threatening,  and,  if 
threatening  does  not  produce  its  ends,  inflicting  so 
much  pain,  as  society  thinks  sufficient  to  repress  in 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOL.LEN.  239 

him  the  desire  to  injure  the  rights  of  others  ;  neither 
more  nor  less  ;  and  the  pain  suited  to  the  criminal 
propensity  ;  crimes  against  property,  in  general,  to 
be  punished  by  making  him  feel  the  evils  arising  from 
such  actions  to  the  injured.  In  the  same  manner, 
crimes  against  the  liberty  or  person  of  others  ;  am- 
bition, by  shame,  &c.  Nobody  to  be  considered 
absolutely  unfit  for  reentering  the  civil  union  of  the 
free,  unless  his  criminal  propensity  has  become  mad- 
ness ;  and  then  he  is  no  longer  a  fit  subject  for  the 
house  of  correction,  but  for  the  hospital. 

"  Idea  of  God  as  a  rewarder  and  punisher.  Kant's 
idea.  I  explained  my  idea  of  the  immortality  of 
man's  moral  nature. 

"  1st.  The  liability  to  temptation  to  descend  to 
lower  degrees  of  creation. 

"  2d.  The  capability  of  being  excited  by  the 
views  of  rising  to  higher  perfection. 

"  3d.  The  power  of  choosing  between  these  two 
possible  directions  of  our  faculties ;  free  agency, 
power  of  exertion,  of  indulgence. 

"  Dr.  Channing  spoke  of  the  language  of  the  New 
Testament,  which  seemed  to  favor  those  views  of 
rewards  and  punishment.  I  thought  that  they  were 
all  that  was  necessary  and  good  for  those  times,  to 
know  that  the  wicked  shall  not  triumph,  but  fall, 
and  the  good  shall  rise  in  the  end  ;  to  counteract  t&e 
injustice  prevailing  in  society.  Further  views  be- 
longed to  those  which  they  were  not  able  to  bear, 
the  destination  of  punishment  and  reward. 

"  Our  life   will   appear  in   a   sum  ;   the  whole  use 


240          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

that  we  have  made  of  the  talent  given  to  us  ;  and 
we  shall  be  put  in  the  corresponding  condition.  One 
particular  feature  of  a  future  life  will  be,  that  all  those 
states  of  our  being,  in  which  we  are  not,  or  not  quite 
responsible,  as  sickness,  &c.,  will  give  way  to  a  state 
of  perfect  and  continued  responsibility.  I  read  a 
part  of  the  Bible  (Samuel)  aloud. 

"  16th.  Began  to  write  a  Prospectus  for  the 
'  Teacher's  Manual.' 

"  In  the  evening  I  carried  my  additions  and  alter- 
ations of  Mr.  Russell's  Prospectus  to  Miss  C . 

She  was  pleased.  I  explained  my  views  with  respect 
to  chance  making  a  part  of  our  destination.  Chance 
necessary  for  forming  a  character  by  free  exertion. 
Trust  in  God,  that  this  chance  itself  is  calculated 
upon  as  a  means  of  our  destination  in  the  laws  of  the 
universe.  No  particular  chance,  therefore,  can  im- 
pair man's  destiny.  My  opinion  is  by  no  means, 
that  cases  of  special  Providence  may  not  occur.  I 
believe  in  miracles  ;  but  they  are  exceptions.  Most 
of  the  influences,  from  the  circumstances,  upon  our 
minds,  are  accidental,  not  intentionally  sent  by  God. 
Without  this  opinion,  of  chance  being  a  part  of  God's 
general  providence  in  regard  to  man,  we  should  be 
obliged  to  accuse  him  of  injustice  and  whimsical  use 
of  power,  as  far  as  we  may  and  must  judge  by  our 
own  faculties.  I  remembered,  on  going  home,  an 
old  thought  of  mine  concerning  the  scale  of  objects 
of  man's  perception. 

"  1st.  Matter,  object  of  the  senses,  indicating 
mind,  yet  without  intentionally  addressing  or  affecting 
man  through  these  objects  of  his  sensation. 


.,- 

LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  241 

"  2dly.  Human  minds  intentionally  operating  upon 
the  perceiving  intellect ;  partly  by  means  of  matter, 
other  persons  ;  and  partly  immediately,  man's  own 
mind,  known  to  him  through  self-consciousness. 

"  3dly.  Influence  of  the  Divine  on  the  human 
mind,  partly  immediate,  without  material  means,  and 
partly  by  such  events  as  we  feel  obliged  to  ascribe  to 
the  special  direction  of  God. 

"  The  principle,  that  God  judgeth  not  as  men  do, 
ought  to  be  taken  in  the  sense,  that  his  justice  is 
perfect,  adequate  to  merit  and  desert,  and  without 
regard  to  persons  ;  while  our  justice  is  imperfect, 
although  we  have  an  idea  of  what  perfect  justice  con- 
sists in,  (by  which  idea  we  also  perceive  the  imper- 
fection of  our  own  justice.)  But  that  principle  may  be, 
and  has  been,  taken  in  another  sense,  that  God's  jus- 
tice might  order  things  in  a  manner  which  we  should 
call  injustice.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  election  and 
original  sin.  This  is,  in  plain  language,  that  God's 
justice  is  less  perfect  than  ours.  Why  use  the  terms 
justice  and  injustice  in  both  cases,  if  you  must  con- 
fess, that  actions,  which  you  would  acknowledge  un- 
just for  man,  could  be  just  if  done  by  God  ? 

"  18th.  I  read  this  evening  a  pamphlet  by  Wil- 
liam Roscoe,  a  brief  statement  of  the  causes  which 
have  led  to  the  abandonment  of  the  celebrated  peni- 
tentiary system.  I  wish  to  see  two  societies  formed, 
one  for  visiting  the  convicts  while  in  prison,  where 
they  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  converse  with  each 
other,  and  another  for  giving  employment  to  convicts 
after  their  release.  For  foreign  mechanics  coming 

VOL.    I.  21 


242  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

to  Boston,  there  should  also  be  a  society  for  the 
purpose  of  finding  out  opportunities  of  employment. 
This  would  relieve  such  persons  as  Hegel,  the  tin- 
plater,  in  Boston,  and  Heyer,  the  leather-dresser,  at 
'the  Port. 


j.^  f  r 

19th.     Went  with  the   Miss   C s  and  Miss 

D to  see  the   Statue  of  Washington  ;  the  hand 

rather  large  for  the  shortness  of  the  left  arm. 

"I  hope  I  have  succeeded,  at  last,  in  a  full  ex- 
pression of  the  principle  of  morality.  Every  human 
being  tends  toward  the  perpetual  identity  of  its  own 
self,  and  the  greatest  possible  harmony  and  variety  in 
its  mode  of  existence.  Self  is  the  essence  of  man, — 
that  which  distinguishes  his  being  from  all  other  be- 
ings, bodily,  vegetative,  animal,  and  mental  self. 
Man  passes  through  all  the  modes  of  existence  we 
know  of,  and  tends  in  every  one  of  them  to  preserve 
the  identity  of  the  essence  of  his  being,  —  his  own 
self.  The  original  tendency  of  man,  then,  has  for 
its  object,  on  one  hand,  partly  the  essence  of  his  be- 
ing, and  partly  the  mode  of  his  existence.  For  the 
first,  he  requires  (to  be  satisfied)  perpetual  identity ; 
and  for  the  latter,  the  greatest  possible  harmony  and 
variety. 

"  As  to  the  mode  of  human  existence,  and  exist- 
ence in  general,  it  is  partly  active,  and  partly  recep- 
tive. If  there  is  a  fault  in  the  above  definition,  it 
seems  to  be  in  the  epithet  harmony.  The  necessary 
harmony  consists  in  the  immutability  of  the  essence 
of  our  being.  The  harmony,  in  the  mode  of  its  ex- 
istence, is  important,  only,  as  a  means  of  the  great- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  243 


est  possible  variety.  What  is  the  object  of  the  nat- 
ural tendency  of  every  human  being  ?  It  has  for  its 
object,  invariableness  of  its  essence,  and  the  greatest 
possible  variety  in  the  mode  of  its  existence. 

"  20th.  During  the  day  I  read  Blumenbach's  trea- 
tise, '  U eber  den  Bildungstriebe,'  of  which  he  made  a 
present  to  our  library.  I  made  an  extract  from  it. 

"21st.  Mr. 's  lecture.  Mr.  has  di- 
vested himself  of  almost  all  the  quaintness,  which  so 
frequently  adheres  to  the  language  of  ministers.  One 
expression  only,  he  uses  too  frequently,  '  when  the 
fulness  of  time  should  corne.' 

"  22d.  I  spent  the  evening  partly  at  Miss  C 's, 

and  partly  at  Dr.  Channing's.  I  read  from  Led- 
yard's  travels  under  Captain  Cook.  Dr.  Channing 
was  delighted  with  a  Review  of  German  Philosophy, 
in  the  'Edinburgh  Review.'  He  will  study  German. 

"  23d.  Mrs.  invited  me  to  meet  some 

friends;  —  a  pleasant  evening.  Mrs. said,  she 

thought  Dr.  Channing  inclined  to  mysticism.  I  re- 
marked, the  difference  between  the  character  of  Pla- 
to and  Aristotle  is  perceptible  in  all  the  history  of 
philosophy  ;  some  are  more  Platonic,  others  more 
Aristotelic  philosophers.  Channing's  is  a  Platonic 
mind.  She  wanted  me  to  publish  an  account  of  Ger- 
man metaphysics.  I  slept  at  Mr.  Tarbell's. 

"  24th.  Conversation  with  Mrs.  T ,  in  the 

morning,  about  a  future  state.  Heaven  and  hell  are 
relative  ideas  ;  the  degree  of  happiness  and  misery 
adapted  to  our  good  or  ill  desert  ;  not  two  separate 
states  without  a  medium.  Possibility  of  infinite  pro- 


244  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

gress.  Men  will  be  born  in  that  state  in  a  future  life, 
in  which  they  leave  this.  Perpetual  chance  of  rising 
or  falling.  Those,  who  sink  themselves  in  this  life, 
through  sin,  will  increase  by  that  means  the  difficulty, 
which  they  have  to  surmount  in  the  next,  in  order  to 
obtain  happiness  ;  as  you  descend  low,  you  will  have 
to  rise  high.  The  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
Sidon  and  Tyre,  comparatively  happier  than  Caper- 
naum, according  to  their  fewer  advantages.  If  an- 
gels may  fall,  angels  may  rise. 

"  Mrs.  T asked,  whether  people  would  not 

lose  an  important  motive  for  being  good,  if  they  were 
told  that  they  had  in  a  future  life  another  chance  ? 
The  Old  Testament  was  efficient  even  with  that  im- 
perfect retribution,  which  exists  in  this  life.  Human 
nature  will  seek  out  another  and  a  worse  remedy, — 
the  doctrine  of  being  undeservedly  saved  by  grace, 
however  wicked  we  may  be  ;  and  the  doctrine,  that 
man  shall  be  happy  according  to  his  deeds,  is  cried 
down  as  presumptuous.  They  expect  reformation 
through  the  act  of  another  being,- — a  lightning  from 
Heaven  ;  moral  regeneration. 

"  Visit  in  the  evening  at  Dr.  H 's.  1  asked 

him,  if  it  might  not  be  better  for  this  college  to  aban- 
don the  elementary  teaching,  which  is  done  in  other 
colleges,  and  make  it  a  national  university  ?  But  the 
means  which  the  institution  itself  furnishes,  the  small 
salaries  which  they  now  give,  can  attract  or  retain 
eminent  talents  only  by  making  this  place  a  free  har- 
bour of  learning  and  literature,  as  in  German  uni- 
versities. It  is  enough  to  keep  a  teacher  indepen- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


245 


dent  of  temporary  applause  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
makes  the  increase  of  his  means  dependent  on  his 
own  exertions.  .  J 

"  26th.  I  have  been  engaged  several  days  in  look- 
ing at  the  different  commentators  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, with  regard  to  Matthew  ix.  14  ;  Luke  v.  33  ; 
Mark  ii.  18,  &c.  I  am  struck  with  the  ingenuity  of 
most  commentators,  in  finding  in  these  simple  passa- 
ges, another  sense  than  they  actually  possess,  although 
no  sectarian  views  had  any  direct  influence  upon  their 
interpretation.  The  inclination  merely  to  ascribe  too 
much  authority  to  the  rites  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
to  austere  habits,  seems  to  have  influenced  some 
commentators  to  deviate  from  sound  sense  and  taste. 

"  Conversation  with  Grater  in  the  morning.  Plato 
among  the  ancient,  and  Kant  among  the  modern  philos- 
ophers, have  introduced  that  rrimle  of  reasoning,  which 
asserts  the  same  idea,  in  one  relation,  and  rejects  it  in 
another  ;  a  quality  is  ascribed  to  a  thing,  considered  by 
itself,  and  denied  when  it  is  considered  in  its  connexion 
with  the  universe.  Thus,  free  agency  is  ascribed  to 
man  in  a  practical  point  of  view,  considering  him  as 
a  being  by  himself  ;  but  it  Js  denied,  when  he  is  con- 
sidered as  a  part  of  the  universe,  in  its  absolute  de- 
pendence on  ihe  Deity.  This  manner  of  asserting 
and  denying  the  same  thing,  in  two  different  points  of 
view,  is  grounded  either  on  a  vague  manner  of  ex- 
pressing one's  ideas,  or  it  is  entirely  illogical.  One 
may  indeed  affirm  that  man  is  mortal,  and  that  he  is, 
also,  immortal.  But  if  another  contradicts  either  of 
these  statements,  or  wishes  him  to  state  distinctly  his 
21* 


246  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

assertion,  and  to  define  his  idea,  he  will  have  to  say, 
the  human  mind,  or  the  essence  of  the  human  nature, 
is  immortal ;  and  the  human  body,  or  the  temporal 
mode  of  man's  existence,  is  mortal.  This  shows  that 
it  was  really  not  the  same  object,  to  which  he  ascrib- 
ed and  denied  a  certain  quality,  but  two  different  ob- 
jects. After  having  thus  defined  his  ideas,  he  can- 
not ascribe  to  the  same  object  a  quality,  and  at  the 
same  time  deny  it. 

"It  is  the  same  case  with  the  abovementioned 
mode  of  reasoning,  which  Hegel  seems  to  have  car- 
ried to  perfection,  in  asserting,  that  '  to  be,'  and  '  not 
to  be'  are  essentially  the  same  thing.  If  we  take  the 
example  of  man's  free  agency,  we  of  course  must 
first  exactly  define  what  we  mean  by  it.  The  test  of 
the  definition  of  this  power  is  the  possibility,  or  im- 
possibility, of  its  effects  being  foreknown. 

"  The  being  of  God  is  characterized  by  the  im- 
mutability of  its  essence,  united  with  the  greatest 
possible  harmony  and  variety  of  its  existence.  The 
destiny  of  man  is  contained  in  the  original  tendency 
of  his  being  to  the  immortality  of  its  essence,  ( i.  e. 
the  whole  of  his  original  faculties,)  and  the  greatest 
possible  harmony 'and  variety  in  its  mode  of  exist- 
ence, of  which  human  nature  is  capable.  His  exist- 
ence is  made  up  of  his  own  efficiency,  and  of  im- 
pressions from  other  things,  —  efficiency  and  impres- 
sibility. The  same  characteristics  belong  to  the 
human  as  to  the  Divine  nature  ;  but,  1st,  limited 
to  its  capacity  ;  2d,  existing  only  in  capacity  and 
tendency,  without  the  means  of  realizing  it,  except 
by  the  assistance  of  other  beings." 


CHAPTER    XI. 


Dr.  Pollen  is  admitted  as  a  Candidate  for  the  Ministry. —  Com- 
mences Preaching.  —  He  is  appointed  Teacher  in  the  Divinity 
School,  in  Cambridge.  —  His  Marriage.  —  He  is  naturalized. 
—  The  Birth  of  his  Son.  —  Letter  to  his  Father. 

IT  is  to  be  regretted  that  Dr.  Follen  did  not  con- 
tinue his  journal.  But  the  evidence,  which  this  rec- 
ord of  a  few  months  gives  of  the  constant  devo- 
tion of  his  mind  to  the  highest  subjects  of  thought, 
of  that  perpetual  search  after  truth,  which  gave  a 
fresh  interest  and  value  to  every  day  of  his  life  as  it 
passed,  and  extracted  a  blessing  from  every  event, 
even  from  the  otherwise  trivial  concerns  of  life,  — 
this  it  is  that  makes  these  pages  from  his  own  hand  so 
precious,  and  must  give  a  value  and  interest  to  de- 
tails otherwise  very  insignificant. 

One  other  circumstance  he  mentions  in  his  jour- 
nal, and  concludes  with  it  ;  it  is  our  engagement,  — 
"  when,"  he  says,  "  we  met  as  friends,  for  time  and 
for  eternity."  The  lady  to  whom  he  had  pledged 
his  affections  had  written  to  him,  that  her  love  for 
him  did  not  warrant  her  in  sacrificing  her  country  and 
friends  for  his  sake.  Although  her  letters  had  been 
few  and  unsatisfactory,  yet  he  would  not  allow  him- 


248  LIFE    OP    CHAKLES    FOL.LEN. 

self  to  doubt  her  love,  arid  the  blow  was  unexpected. 
He  says,  in  speaking  of  her  decision,  "  I  shrink 
from  the  task  of  describing  my  feelings,  since  that 
time.  What  I  loved  in  her,  I  still  love,  and  shall 
love  for  ever.  I  supposed  it  to  be  in  her,  nay,  one 
with  her  ;  yet  all  I  demanded  of  her,  was  truth. 
She  has  been  true  to  herself  and  to  me,  in  saying 
that  she  did  not  love  me.  May  the  God  of  truth 
reward  her.  May  every  cloud  of  grief,  which  rises 
from  my  heart,  be  turned  into  showers  of  blessings 
upon  her  innocent  head." 

From  this  time  he  devoted  himself  with  new  en- 
ergy to  writing  sermons,  but  most  particularly  to  the 
one  upon  Immortality,  which  he  intended  to  read  be- 
fore the  Association,  when  he  should  offer  himself  as 
a  candidate  for  the  ministry. 

On  the  28th  of  July,  1828,  Dr.  FoJlen  was  regu- 
larly admitted  as  a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  His 
discourse  before  the  meeting  of  the  Boston  Associa- 
tion, upon  that  occasion,  is  placed  first  in  the  volume 
of  sermons,  in  the  present  collection  of  his  works. 
The  Sunday  afterwards,  he  preached  for  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Greenwood  ;  and  he  immediately  received  an 
invitation  to  supply  the  desk  at  Nahant,  for  three  or 
four  Sundays,  during  his  College  vacation. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  profession,  his  great- 
est fears  were  in  relation  to  his  devotional  exercises. 
He  said  he  could  not  write  a  prayer  ;  he  could  not 
repeat  a  prayer  from  memory  ;  he  could  not  utter 
set  phrases  ;  he  must  pray,  or  be  silent.  "  If,"  said 
he,  "  prayer  is  in  my  heart,  I  shall  pray;  if  not,  I 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  249 

shall  be  silent.  I  will  not  speak  words  in  the  pulpit, 
without  meaning."  "  What  shall  you  do,"  I  asked, 
"if  you  should  find  you  are  not  in  the  spirit  of 
prayer  ?  "  "I  shall  be  silent ;  and  I  fear  it  may  be 
so."  It  was  on  that  account,  that  he  was  glad  to 
preach  first  at  the  Stone  Chapel,  where  they  used  a 
form  of  prayer. 

The  next  time  he  went  into  the  pulpit,  he  felt  no 
difficulty,  except  for  satisfactory  words  ;  his  heart  was 
full  to  overflowing.  He  has  often  said,  that  nothing  in- 
spired him  so  much,  as  the  sight  of  a  great  many  hu- 
man faces.  Never,  through  all  his  ministry,  did  he 
depart  from  his  solemn  purpose,  not  to  utter  mere 
words  for  prayer.  He  always  prayed,  and,  when  he 
had  nothing  more  in  his  heart  to  say,  he  was  silent. 
Occasionally,  after  he  had  been  preaching,  he  would 
write  down  the  prayer  he  had  uttered,  when  it  hap- 
pened to  remain  in  his  memory.  Some  of  these 
prayers,  which  he  never  made  any  use  of,  may  be 
found  at  the  end  of  this  volume.  This  practice  he 
continued  but  for  a  short  time. 

Dr.  Follen  was  not  at  first  a  popular  preacher. 
He  was  a  spendthrift  of  his  mind.  He  would  put 
thought  enough  into  one  sermon,  to  have  served  many 
a  popular  preacher  for  materials  for  a  dozen  discours- 
es. He  was  called  metaphysical  and  abstract,  and 
it  was,  perhaps,  a  general  complaint,  that  it  was  too 
hard  work  to  follow  his  train  of  reasoning.  He  had 
none  of  the  arts  and  contrivances  to  catch  attention, 
or  to  make  a  little  thought  go  a  great  way.  He  pour- 
ed out  from  his  abundance  ;  he  gave  liberally  what  he 


250  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


had,  and  never  asked  what  any  one  thought  of  the 
giver.  People  sometimes  said,  they  were  wearied 
with  thinking,  after  hearing  him  ;  and  those  who  did 
not  attempt  to  follow  his  reasoning  called  him  dry. 
Perhaps  he  was  so.  I  was  not  a  judge  ;  neither  was 
any  one  of  his  friends  ;  for  the  feeling  of  his  sin- 
cerity, his  purity,  his  heavenly-rnindedness,  was  so 
strong,  that  his  words  were  received  by  us  as  were 
the  words  of  no  other  man.  And  there  was  a  force  of 
reasoning,  a  power  in  him,  that  few  could  resist,  who 
gave  him  their  full  attention. 

He  himself  was  anxious  to  hear  objections  to  his 
preaching  ;  he  often  said,  "  It  does  me  the  greatest 
good  to  have  my  faults  pointed  out."  And  he  finally 
taught  me  to  be  his  severest  critic  ;  for  he  made  me  feel 
that  excellence  was  more  than  all  things  to  him.  The 
patience  and  sweetness  with  which  he  would  listen 
even  to  harsh  comments  upon  his  preaching,  I  have 
never  seen  equalled.  Once,  a  friend,  who  had  a  kind 
heart,  but  an  arbitrary  character,  came  to  see  him  in 
order  to  lecture  him  about  a  sermon  he  had  preached. 
He  took  him  by  the  button-hole  of  his  coat,  — 
"  Your  sermon,  Sir,"  said  he,  "  was  very  sensible  ; 
but  you  spoil  your  discourses  with  your  views  about 
freedom.  We  are  all  wearied  of  hearing  the  -same 
thing  from  you.  You  always  have  something  about 
freedom  in  whatever  you  say  to  us.  I  am  sick  of 
hearing  about  freedom  ;  we  have  too  much  freedom. 
We  are  all  sick  of  it  ;  don't  let  us  hear  any  more 
such  sermons  from  you." 

Dr.  Follen  replied  with  a  quiet  smile,  and  with  the 


. 

LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  251 


utmost  gentleness,  "  I  thank  you  for  your  frank- 
ness, and  am  sorry  you  are  not  pleased.  I  will 
think  of  what  you  say."  When  he  was  gone,  he 
only  said,  "  He  is  an  honest,  kind-hearted  man." 

It  was  now  the  great  desire  of  Dr.  Follen's  heart 
to  have  a  home,  and  gather  around  him  a  domestic 
circle.  His  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars  was,  of 
course,  totally  inadequate  ;  and  my  share  of  this 
world's  goods  was  very  small.  He  therefore  made 
known  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Bovvditch,  then  President 
of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  College,  his  determi- 
nation to  seek  a  parish  where  he  might  find  an  ade- 
quate support.  Dr.  Bowditch  opposed  this  warmly. 
He  told  him  his  learning  and  talents  were  wanted  in 
the  University,  and  that  they  could  not  spare  him. 
He  said  to  him,  that  he  knew  his  present  place  was 
not  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  that  he  might  rely  upon 
it  he  should  be  properly  provided  for.  His  excellent 
friend,  Mr.  Stephen  Higginson,  was  also  very  de- 
sirous to  retain  Dr.  Follen  in  Cambridge,  and,  as 
soon  as  he  knew  of  his  intention  of  leaving  it,  he  and 
the  other  Directors  of  the  Theological  School,  re- 
commended to  the  Corporation  his  appointment  as 
teacher  of  ethics  and  ecclesiastical  history  in  the 
Schopl,  with  an  understanding,  that  he  should  be 
made  finally  a  permanent  professor  in  one  of  these 
branches. 

The  Corporation  agreed  to  this  with  a  modifica- 
tion apparently  slight,  which,  however,  was  greatly 
important  to  Dr.  Follen  afterwards. 

The  following  documents  will  best  show  his  exact 
position  in  the  College. 


> 

ft- 

252          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

LETTER  FROM  MR.  S.  HIGGINSON. 

"  Cambridge,  July,  1828. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  enclose  a  note  of  the  Theological  Directors 
this  day.  I  am  requested  to  learn  from  you,  whether 
this  plan  is  agreeable  to  you,  and  what  compensation 
will  be  satisfactory.  Will  six  hundred  dollars,  in  ad- 
dition to  what  is  now  received,  be  sufficient,  presuming 
you  will  have  opportunities  to  earn  three  hundred  by 
preaching  ?  A  lecture  on  ethics  once  a  week,  and  one 
on  ecclesiastical  history  once  a  week,  is  all  we  should 
ask  in  the  Theological  School,  except,  that,  as  one  of 
the  faculty,  you  should  take  a  general  oversight,  being 
present,  when  you  are  able,  at  our  public  exercises. 
Some  instruction  in  history  may  also  be  required  by 
the  Corporation  to  the  undergraduates,  with  a  view 
to  a  permanent  foundation  in  that  branch. 

"  Yours,  S.  HIGGINSON." 

"  At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the 
Theological  School,  July  23d,  1828, 

"  Voted  unanimously,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
board,  it  is  highly  expedient  to  retain  the  services  of 
Dr.  Follen  as  teacher  of  the  German  language,  and 
also  as  teacher  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  ethics  in 
the  School  ;  and  that  it  be  recommended  to  the  Cor- 
poration to  confer  on  him  such  appointment  as  a  per- 
manent Professor. 

"  Attest,  JAMES  WALKER." 

,  ,•» 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Corporation  of  Harvard 
College,  held  on  the  21st  day  of  August,  1828, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         253 

i 

"  The  Secretary  laid  before  the  Board  a  com- 
munication from  the  Directors  of  the  Theologi- 
cal School,  recommending  the  appointment  of  Dr. 
Charles  Follen  to  be  permanent  Instructor  in  Ec- 
clesiastical History  and  Ethics  in  the  Theological 
School  ;  which  was  read,  and  it  was 

"  Voted,  that  Dr.  Charles  Follen  be  appointed 
instructor  in  history  and  ethics,  to  deliver  such  lec- 
tures, and  give  such  other  instruction,  to  the  Theo- 
logical Students  and  to  the  Undergraduates,  as  may 
be  prescribed  by  the  Government  of  the  College. 

"  Voted,  that  there  be  allowed  him,  for  the  above 
services,  the  sum  of  seven  hundred  dollars  per  an- 
num, in  addition  to  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars, 
allowed  him  as  teacher  in  German. 

"  A  true  copy  from  the  records. 

"  Attest,       F.  C.  GRAY,  Secretary." 

Dr.  Follen  was  induced  to  accept  this  proposal, 
which  imposed  upon  him  such  a  great  amount  of  labor, 
with,  at  the  same  time,  a  smaller  compensation  than 
other  teachers  who  had  less  demanded  of  them,  from 
the  assurance,  that,  very  soon,  a  distinct  professor- 
ship, with  a  proper  professor's  salary,  would  be  given 
him.  Doubtless  the  friends,  who  encouraged  this 
hope,  and  who  pledged  their  own  efforts  for  its  ac- 
complishment, felt  sure,  that  the  promise  would  be 
redeemed.  Dr.  Follen  trusted  entirely  to  it.  But 
it  is  true,  that  the  yearnings  of  his  heart  after  the  bles- 
sings of  a  home,  may  have  beguiled  his  judgment  into 
the  mistake  of  leaving  any  thing  questionable  upon  a 

VOL.  i.  22 


* 

254  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

•»  '   * 

subject  so  important,  as  his  actual  position  in   the 

College,  and  his  future  prospects  there.  He  loved 
the  College  ;  he  hoped  to  serve  it.  Although  he 
wished  to  preach,  he  did  not  desire  at  present  to  be 
settled  over  a  parish.  He  wished  to  know  more  of 
the  people  first. 

In  addition  to  these  predilections  for  an  established 
place  in  Harvard  College,  his  hopeful,  trustful  na- 
ture made  him  always  believe,  that  what  was  right 
would  eventually  be.  I  have  often  heard  him  say, 
u  I  know  that  all  my  faithful  study  has  fitted  me  for 
usefulness  in  Harvard  College.  I  think  they  will 
let  me  work  for  them,  and  that  I  can  do  them  some 
good."  It  was  not  till  there  was  evidently  no  hope 
to  build  upon,  that  he  relinquished  this  faith. 

Dr.  Follen  was  seized,  in  the  spring  of  this  year, 
with  a  very  severe  affection  of  the  throat.  Some 
passages  from  a  letter  to  a  friend,  show  that  he  met 
sickness,  as  he  met  the  other  evils  of  life,  with  cheer- 
ful, inspiring  faith.  He  says, 

"  I  have  had  similar  attacks,  and  know  how  to 
take  care  of  myself.  Besides,  there  is  Mr.  Grater, 
who  has  realized  your  wish  that  you  could  transform 
your  solicitude  into  a  good  nurse.  He  has  realized  it 
by  the  magic  of  friendship,  which  induced  him  to  take 
care  of  me  as  your  heart  would  have  directed  him. 
And  where  all  other  means  of  assistance  are  wanting, 
there  is  that  one  kind  Friend,  who  thinks  of  us  even 
when  we  are  not  thinking  of  Him.  He  is  the  constant 
attendant  on  every  sick  chamber,  the  true  Priest  and 
best  Physician  to  every  believing  soul.  Therefore, 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  255 

dismiss  your  cares,  my  dear  friend ;  there  is  no  cause 
for  solicitude  in  the  present  case  ;  and,  if  there  were 
any,  still  there  would  be  a  higher  cause  for  discard- 
ing all  anxiety." 

"  Sunday  Evening. 

"  I  am  gaining  in  health  every  day,  and  the  Doc- 
tor has  pronounced  me  decidedly  better.  I  have  felt 
the  refreshing  influence  of  the  delightful  summer  air 
all  this  day.  There  are  several  apple  trees  in  full 
blossom  under  my  window,  which  I  have  watched 
with  increasing  delight  from  the  first  opening.  Spring 
is  penetrating  and  overspreading  every  thing  with  life 
and  lustre  ;  and  the  white  and  gray  walls,  which  alone 
appear  without  a  spring  garment,  seem  to  screen 
themselves  under  the  surrounding  verdure.  I  thank 
God,  that  I  am  well  enough  to  feel  this  new  life, 
which  flows  through  every  vein  of  creation,  and 
breaks  forth  in  sounds  and  colors,  deep  and  gay,  now 
in  overflowing  enthusiasm,  and  now  in  silent  joy. 
Yet  there  is  a  feeling  of  sadness,  mixed  with  the 
liveliest  enjoyment  of  this  festal  time  of  nature  ;  its 
joyous  welcome  brings  with  it  the  anticipation  of  its 
early  departure.  But  this  very  sadness  seems  to 
open  to  our  minds  a  deeper  source  of  happiness  ;  for 
it  makes  us  conscious,  that  this  new  life,  which  sheds 
but  a  transient  glory  over  the  realms  of  nature,  has 
an  eternal  spring  in  every  loving  heart. 

"  My  Grammar,  the  principal  sickness  which  af- 
flicts me,  will  not  be  out  till  next  Saturday  ;  and  I 
have  been  obliged  to  correct  proofs  all  this  time. 


256  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

There  is  but  one  remedy  for  colds  and  Grammar,  — 
patience." 

The  Grammar,  which  Dr.  Follen  speaks  of  so 
frequently,  has  been  in  constant  use  in  the  College 
from  the  time  of  its  publication  ;  and  I  believe,  that 
it  is  acknowledged,  by  competent  judges,  to  be  the 
best  German  Grammar  extant.  It  has  passed  through 
many  editions,  and  was  a  source  of  pecuniary  profit 
to  him. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  1828,  we  were  married, 
and  immediately  commenced  housekeeping  in  Cam- 
bridge. My  two  unmarried  sisters,  with  whom  I  was 
living,  were  to  him  as  his  own,  and,  at  his  request, 
we  invited  them  to  make  part  of  our  family. 

How  can  I  speak  of  all  that  he  was  in  the  new 
relation  upon  which  he  had  now  entered  ?  And  yet 
it  would  be  injustice  to  him  to  pass  over  this  part 
of  his  character  in  silence.  His  views  of  the  duties, 
of  the  high  purposes,  of  the  married  state,  will  be» 
best  represented,  by  his  own  words,  in  the  following 
notes  for  a  sermon  on  the  subject,  which  he  preached 
in  New  York,  but  never  wrote  out. 

"  '  What  God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man  put 
asunder.' 

"  This  shows  marriage  to  be  the  principal  of  all 
relations  ;  for,  so  soon  as  it  is  formed,  it  takes  pre- 
cedence even  of  the  parental.  Marriage  is  a  union 
of  love  between  one  man  and  one  woman,  devoting 
themselves,  in  strictest  intimacy  and  with  exclusive 
fidelity,  to  perpetual,  mutual  improvement. 

"  Foundation  of  marriage.  Love,  i.  e.,  interest  in 
perfection  ;  interest  in  each  other's  perfection. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  257 

"  Object.  To  preserve  and  promote  their  physi- 
cal, moral,  and  religious  perfection. 

"  The  object  is  evidently  a  permanent  one. 
Hence  the  importance,  that  the  union  should  be 
formed  with  a  view  to  the  whole  life  of  man,  both 
that  which  now  is,  and  that  which  is  to  come. 

"  Love,  an  eternal  principle.  Hence,  all  false, 
all  merely  temporal  motives  are  wrong.  Suicide, 
from  disappointed  love,  better  than  marriage  from 
mercenary  motives. 

"  Parents  are  apt  to  have  low  motives  upon  the 
subject.  They  educate  their  daughters  to  be  mar- 
ried, setting  love  aside.  The  poor  have  a  great  ad- 
vantage. Saying  among  the  French,  '  Us  ament 
comrne  les  pauvres.' 

"  Religion.  '  Alas  for  those  who  love,  and  cannot 
blend  in  prayer  ! '  It  is  not  agreement  in  opinion, 
but  the  existence  of  a  devotional  belief  in  the  in- 
visible ;  a  tendency  to  the  Infinite  ;  a  respect  for 
each  other's  religious  freedom,  which  is  necessary. 
Dangerous  to  undertake  to  reform  a  man  by  marriage. 
"Duties.  Mutual  respect,  as  partakers  of  the  same 
moral  nature.  The  likeness  of  God  the  object  of 
respect.  The  same  in  husband  and  wife.  '  God 
created  man  in  his  own  image,  male  and  female  cre- 
ated he  them.'  Here  the  word  man  evidently  im- 
plies both  man  and  woman. 

' ' '  Female  mind '  and  '  female  heart '  about  as  proper 

as    'female  conscience.'     The  marriage  state  cannot 

change  the  principal  ground  of  equal,  mutual  respect  ; 

otherwise  it  would  be  a  degrading,  immoral  connexion. 

22* 


258  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Equality  of  the  sexes.  Equal  moral  obligations. 
The  Saviour  gave  the  true  standard  of  moral  purity 
in  this  relation.  Shameful  partiality  of  the  laws  and 
of  the  customs  of  society,  and  of  philosophizing  men 
of  the  world  upon  this  subject. 

"  Provident  industry  a  duty  of  equal  obligation. 
Mutual  obedience  to  each  other's  superior  judgment. 
Perfect  truth.  Never  laying  up  unsettled  difficul- 
ties. No  secrets  from  each  other.  Patient,  hopeful, 
self-sacrificing  devotion  to  each  other's  physical,  in- 
tellectual, moral,  and  religious  welfare.  Danger  of 
the  daily  and  family  little  cares  of  household  duties 
dimming  the  sense  of  the  great  object  of  married  life. 
"  Their  final  separation,  at  first  sight  a  source  of 
unmixed  suffering,  and  reunion  of  perfect  joy.  Yet 
the  prospect  of  separation  is  calculated  to  make  the 
joy,  which  naturally  attends  a  union  of  heart,  perfect, 
by  giving  it  a  moral  character  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  reunion  can  be  looked  forward  to  as  a  blessing 
only  in  connexion  with  moral  progress,  without  which 
it  must  turn  into  a  source  of  pain. 

"  The  thought  of  separation  is  calculated  to  height- 
en our  joy  by  spiritualizing  our  affections.  Reunion 
must  depend  on  the  strength  of  present  affection.  It 
may  be  a  source  of  pain  or  joy,  according  to  our 
deserts. 

"  One  advances,  the  other  remains  behind.  A 
man  may  look  upon  the  years  he  survives  his  friend, 
as  a  means  of  rendering  himself  more  worthy  of  a  re- 
union. Preparation  for  separation  is  the  same  as 
preparation  for  reunion.  The  same  effort  necessary 
for  both. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  259 

"  The  union  between  Simon  Marechal  and  his 
wife  was  a  true  union.  They  were  condemned  to 
death  on  account  of  their  religious  opinions.  When 
they  approached  the  flames,  which  were  to  consume 
them  both,  she  turned  to  her  husband,  and  said  to 
him,  '  Dear  husband  !  our  marriage  has  hitherto  been 
but  an  engagement.  This  is  our  true  wedding-day, 
when,  after  this  trifling  torment,  the  Son  of  God  will 
marry  us  for  eternity  ! ' 

"  Grounds  of  dissolution  of  marriage.  The  ten- 
dency to  mutual  improvement  is  the  foundation,  the 
tendency  to  mutual  degradation  is  the  destruction,  of 
marriage.  It  is  the  moral  destruction  of  it,  whether 
the  law  keep  it  up  by  coercion  or  not.  If  the  sinful 
tendency  leaves  room  for  hope,  the  separation  should 
be  temporary  only;  if  there  is  no  reasonable  hope  of 
amendment,  it  should  be  permanent.  The  two  sol- 
emn and  affecting  thoughts,  separation  by  death  and 
reunion  in  the  life  to  come,  form  the  painful  expecta- 
tion and  the  inspiring  hope  of  every  human  friend- 
ship, every  bond  of  affection,  in  this  world." 

These  were  Dr.  Follen's  vyews  of  the  duties  and 
purposes  of  this  connexion.  All  who  knew  him, 
would  bear  witness,  that  his  life  was  ever  a  faithful 
transcript  of  his  opinions.  But  none  but  those  who 
lived  in  the  strictest  intimacy  with  him,  could  know 
how  true  he  was  to  his  own  principles  ;  how  he  hal- 
lowed the  meanest  occupations,  and  gave  a  sanctity 
and  grace  to  what  might  be  called  the  drudgery  of 
life,  by  the  love  and  patience,  with  which  he  perform- 
ed every  such  labor.  None  but  those  who  were  the 


260  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

objects  of  his  unfailing  love,  could  appreciate  the 
sweetness  and  fidelity,  with  which  he  ministered  to 
the  most  insignificant,  as  well  as  the  highest,  wants  of 
all  who  were  dependent  upon  him. 

Dr.  Follen  soon  became  deeply  engaged  in  his 
new  duties  in  the  University.  He  immediately  com- 
menced a  systematic  course  of  ethics  in  the  Divinity 
School.  His  method  was  to  give  the  class  a  sub- 
ject, upon  which  each  one  was  to  write  his  views, 
and  then  give  them  to  him  to  criticize.  These  es- 
says he  carefully  read  ;  and,  after  pointing  out  to  the 
writer  all  that  he  found  objectionable  in  his  style,  his 
mode  of  reasoning,  or  his  judgment,  and  freely  prais- 
ing all  that  he  approved  of,  he  took  up  the  subject 
himself,  and  treated  it  in  the  most  comprehensive, 
masterly  manner,  that  he  was  capable  of.  In  giving 
his  own  views,  he  was  always  careful  to  avoid  dog- 
matism, and  to  show,  that  on  those  great  questions, 
he  considered  himself  still  a  learner  with  his  pupils, 
only  in,  perhaps,  an  advanced  class.  Dr.  Follen 
found  great  pleasure  in  this  occupation ;  all  his  pre- 
vious studies,  even  from  his  boyhood,  had  eminently 
fitted  him  for  it.  The  nature  and  destiny  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  and  the  foundations  of  moral  obligation, 
were  subjects  of  the  deepest  interest  to  him  ;  and 
his  mind  was  ever  at  work  upon  them.  He  used  of- 
ten to  say,  "  I  feel  as  if  this  was  my  true  element." 
It  is  needless  to  say,  that  his  instructions  were  highly 
valued  by  the  students.  I  believe  that  there  is  not 
one  of  the  young  men,  who  were  in  the  Divinity 
School  at  that  time,  who  would  not  be  eager  to  con- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  261 

fess  their  deep  obligations  to  him.  But,  had  they 
seen  him  at  the  end  of  a  day  of  toil  in  teaching 
German,  with  his  pile  of  themes  before  him  on 
his  study  table,  reading  one  of  them  after  another 
with  the  same  interest  and  pleasure  as  if  the  subject 
were  new  to  him,  and  he  unwearied,  saying  only  now 
and  then,  "I  am  really  pleased  with  my  young  men," 
—  then  they  would  have  witnessed  how  truly  he 
made  all  his  duties  labors  of  love. 

These  duties  were  indeed  arduous.  He  taught 
German  for  three  days  in  the  week  ;  he  delivered  an 
ethical  lecture  once  a  week  in  the  School,  and  a 
lecture  on  history  once  a  week  to  the  undergraduates. 
He  preached  on  Sunday  whenever  he  was  invited, 
which  was  very  often  ;  this  made  it  necessary  to  write 
sermons  ;  and  add  to  this,  he  had  accepted  an  invita- 
tion from  the  Teachers  of  a  Sunday  School,  just 
established  in  Cambridge,  to  be  their  Superintendent. 
As  it  was  the  commencement  of  the  school,  he  was 
anxious  to  make  it  all  that  a  Sunday  School  ought  to 
be.  He  invited  all  the  Teachers  to  meet  once  a  fort- 
night at  his  house,  in  which  the  subject  of  religious 
instruction  was  discussed  with  a  freedom  and  earnest- 
ness, that  made  these  meetings  very  profitable,  as 
well  as  interesting.  The  delicate  courtesy  of  his 
manners,  his  thoughtful  kindness,  that  led  him  to  no- 
tice those  whom  others  passed  over,  his  real  respect 
for  all,  and  his  frank  exposition  of  his  own  views, 
inspired  all  who  were  present  with  such  confidence, 
that  there  was,  at  these  meetings,  a  very  general  and 
free  expression  of  opinion,  and  a  great  deal  of  intel- 
ligent and  easy  conversation. 


262         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

In  addition  to  these  various  occupations,  his  mind 
was  at  work  on  a  subject,  upon  which  he  had  long 
wished  to  give  his  ideas  fully  and  distinctly.  It  was 
in  the  course  of  this  and  the  following  year,  that  he 
matured  and  expressed  his  views  upon  the  future 
state,  which  were  published  in  three  separate  num- 
bers in  tlie  "  Christian  Examiner,"  of  January,  March, 
and  June,  1830.  During  this  period,  he  also  wrote 
a  review  of  Mr.  Bancroft's  translation  of  Heeren's 
"  History  of  the  States  of  Antiquity."  This  was 
published  in  the  "  American  Quarterly  Review,"  of 
March,  J829. 

The  following  letters  to  his  father  show  his  happy 
state  of  mind  at  this  time. 

"  Cambridge,  24th  August,  1829. 
"  MY  DEAR  PARENTS,  BROTHERS,  AND  SISTERS, 

"I  hope  that  one  or  another  of  my  letters,  which 
I  have  sent  to  you  by  different  travellers,  has  given 
you  an  account  of  my  situation  here.  I  feel  myself 
happier  than  ever  before.  Freedom  without,  and  the 
joy  of  love  and  peaceful  life  at  home,  —  what  is  want- 
ing to  my  felicity,  but  the  presence  of  my  dear  fam- 
ily in  the  distance  and  far  away  ?  O  let  our  spirits 
turn  away  from  what  separates  us  ;  the  reality  of 
separation  is  only  a  dead  letter  ;  the  thought  that  this 
is  so  is  heart-consoling  ;  let  us  live  in  that  which 
unites  us  for  time  and  eternity,  —  in  the  quiet,  firm 
consciousness  of  mutual  love. 

"  I  know  not  whether  I  have  given  you  any  descrip- 
tion in  my  letters  of  my  daily  life.  I  rise  every 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  263 

morning  at  five  or  six  o'clock,  and  pass  the  first  hours 
of  the  day  in  my  study.  At  seven,  my  wife  calls  me 
to  breakfast,  which  we  take  with  her  two  unmarried 
sisters,  who  liye  in  our  house  with  us.  After  break- 
fast we  have,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country, 
our  family  worship  ;  that  is,  I  read  a  passage  from 
the  Bible.  We  seek  to  explain  what  difficulties  pre- 
sent themselves,  and  to  comprehend  what  is  most 
important,  and  then  I  speak  a  short  prayer,  without 
form,  as  the  Spirit  moves  me.  During  the  family 
worship  the  servants  come  into  the  room,  and  take 
part  in  it. 

"  At  eight  o'clock  I  go,  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays, 
and  Fridays,  to  the  College,  and  give  instruction  in 
German  six  hours  daily.  I  have  about  sixty  schol- 
ars in  German.  On  the  three  other  days,  I  give  lec- 
tures on  History  in  the  College,  and  on  Ethics  in  the 
Theological  School.  Friday  evening,  I  have  an  ex- 
ercise with  the  Theological  Students,  in  extempore 
preaching,  and,  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings,  I 
attend,  with  the  other  members  of  the  Theological 
Faculty,  the  regular  exercises  in  preaching.  We 
have  for  this  an  appropriate  chapel.  Each  of  the 
theological  students  of  the  two  upper  classes  preaches 
in  turn.  The  service  begins  with  prayer  ;  then  the 
preacher  reads  a  chapter  from  the  Bible  ;  then  a 
hymn  is  sung  ;  the*n  the  sermon,  which  concludes 
with  prayer.  Each  member  then  makes  his  remarks 
upon  the  exercise,  which  I  have  to  begin,  as  the 
youngest  of  the  members. 

"On    Sunday,  each  family  goes  regularly  twice  to 


264  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

the  church.  I  preach  frequently  here  or  in  Boston, 
or  the  neighbourhood.  The  English  is  now  so  easy 
to  me,  that  I  have  often  preached  extemporaneously, 
and  never  write  down  my  prayers  beforehand. 

"You  see  by  this,  dear  father,  that  I  have  not 
entirely  departed  from  your  ways,  in  regard  to  labor- 
ing in  my  vocation.  You  must  know,  moreover,  that 

Im  Klotzespalten  werd  ich  stets  dir  vveichen  ; 
Im  Sagen  aber  such'  ich  meinesgleichen. 

In  splitting  of  knots  I  will  always  yield  to  you  ; 
In  sawing,  however,  I  acknowledge  no  equal. 

I  owe  to  this,  my  constant  occupation,  my  firm 
health  ;  and,  as  you  see,  a  certain  facility  and  skill  in 
doggerel  and  double  rhymes.  For  the  rest  I  pro- 
duce more  realities  here  than  poems,  —  probably,  be- 
cause my  boldest  European  poems  are  here  realities. 
"  My  income  gives  me  exactly  enough  to  live  on, 
and,  in  a  few  years,  we  may  be  in  a  situation  to  lay 
up  something.  The  expenses  of  our  first  housekeep- 
ing are  now  finished,  and  we  are  entirely  free  from 
debt.  The  most  considerable  charge  is  the  procur- 
ing of  books,  without  which  I  can  no  longer  get  on. 
The  most  difficult  thing  in  my  position,  is  the  necessi- 
ty of  giving  instruction  at  once  in  three  quite  different 
branches,  —  German,  History,  and  Moral  Philosophy. 
The  cause  of  this  is  the  want  of  higher  educational 
institutions  in  this  country,  while  the  common  schools 
are  far  better  than  in  Germany.  Learning  is  yet  in 
embryo,  but  has  made,  however,  already  rapid  advan- 
ces towards  actual  existence.  I  have  reason  to  hope 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  265 

that  in  a  year  I  may  attend  exclusively  to  one  branch 
of  instruction,  or  I  will  seek  the  situation  of  a  cler- 
gyman here  or  in  Boston  ;  in  which  case  I  might 
possibly  give  lectures  on  philosophical  or  historical 
subjects.  I  have  not  relinquished,  at  all,  the  civil  and 
natural  law,  but  hope  to  find  opportunity,  in  time,  to 
repeat  my  lectures  upon  them.  In  Boston  there  is 
an  active  effort  for  progress  in  all  directions  ;  and  the 
only  obstacle  to  a  more  earnest  attention  to  scientific 
efforts,  at  present,  is  the  unfortunate  situation  of 
things  in  the  mercantile  world,  which  has  depressed 
many  rich  families.  I  shall  probably  deliver  lectures 
next  winter,  in  Boston,  upon  Ancient  History,  which 
I  have  been  asked  to  do,  by  many  different  persons. 
The  study  of  the  German  language  and  literature  is 
steadily  increasing.  Many  young  Americans,  partic- 
ularly theological  students,  who  have  finished  their 
studies  here,  are  travelling  to  Germany,  in  order  to 
begin  there  anew,  and  then  to  make  the  dead  riches 
of  German  learning  live  here  anew  in  this  free  air. 

"  26th  September.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  how 
peacefully  and  happily  we  four, — that  is,  my  wife,  her 
two  sisters,  and  I,  a  four-leaved  clover, — live  here 
together.  We  are  exactly  enough  to  occupy  the  four 
sides  of  our  table  at  meals,  at  work,  and  at  prayers. 
The  sisters  of  my  wife  live  on  the  income  of  their 
property,  which  is  independent,  and  not  more  than 
barely  sufficient  to  maintain  them  respectably.  My 
younger  sister-in-law,  Susan  Cabot,  draws  very  pret- 
tily, and  has  published  several  charming  stories  for 

VOL.  i.  23 


266  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

children.     I  could  say  much  of  the  songs,  and  other 
small  pieces  of  my  wife,  did  I  not  know,  that  it  is 
her  most  earnest  wish  that  I  should  forget  the  author-^ 
ess  in  the  friend.     She  writes  you  a  few  lines,  which 
I  translate  literally. 

***** 
"  llth  October.  This  letter  was  not  sent  sooner, 
because  I  thought  I  should  have  a  private  oppor- 
tunity for  it.  Since  it  was  begun,  nothing  is  altered 
with  us,  except  by  the  very  great  joy  which  your 
letter  of  the  28th  of  July  has  given  us.  God  be 
thanked  for  your  welfare,  dear  parents  !  Greet  af- 
fectionately [Here  follow  the  names  of  all  the  differ- 
ent members  of  the  family].  I  am  so  happy  in  the 
midst  of  my  dear  family.  The  time  will  come,  I 
hope,  when  the  governments  on  the  other  side  will 
believe,  that  I  do  not  wish  to  meddle  in  their  affairs, 
which  concern  me  not  at  all  ;  and  then  I  shall  hope, 
when  they  can  promise  me  a  safe  protection,  to  find 
a  time  to  visit  you.  Yet,  alas  !  how  distant  is  this  ! 
I  pray  you,  yet  again,  dear  father,  if  it  is  too  narrow  for 
you  there,  to  come  with  my  mother  to  me  and  to 
your  American  daughter.  My  income,  though  small, 
is  sufficient  for  us.  And  then  I  root  myself,  daily, 
more  deeply  in  this  native  soil  of  freedom  and  truth, 
and  I  am  now  as  good  as  certain,  that  I  shall  wish 
you  joy,  next  April,  of  your  first-born  American 
grandson.  The  18th  of  January  is  a  festival  for  me. 
I  become  then  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Good 
wishes,  dear  father,  to  you  on  this  your  birthday. 
"  Ever  your  CHARLES." 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  267 

In  March,  1830,  as  the  necessary  preliminary  time 
had  passed,  Dr.  Follen  was  admitted  to  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  a  native  American.  The  strong 
feeling,  that  he  manifested  upon  this  occasion,  was 
very  characteristic  of  his  childlike,  earnest  nature. 
He  brought  me  the  certificate,  that  he  was  an  Ameri- 
can citizen,  with  a  glow  of  joy  in  his  face,  and  de- 
clared, that  the  naturalized  foreigner  alone  had  a  right 
to  boast  of  his  citizenship,  for  with  him  it  was  choice. 
When,  not  long  afterwards,  on  the  llth  of  April,  his 
son  was  born,  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  am  an  Ameri- 
can." For  a  long  time  he  had  felt  unwilling  to  be 
called  a  foreigner.  There  was  none  of  the  feeling  of 
the  foreigner  in  his  heart.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  I 
shall  have  no  more  home-sickness."  When  he  first 
looked  upon  our  child,  he  said,  "  I  must  earn  the 
right  to  the  happiness  I  feel  of  being  the  father  of  the 
little  fellow  ;  his  mother  has  already  earned  the  privi- 
lege through  suffering."  He  wrote,  the  day  after  the 
birth  of  his  son,  to  his  own  father. 

"  Cambridge,  April  12th,  1830. 
"  Mr  BELOVED  FATHER, 

"  I  congratulate  you  on  your  first  birthday  as  a 
grandfather  in  America.  My  wife  gave  birth,  yester- 
day, to  a  strong,  healthy  boy.  She  is  well  and  strong 
enough  to  bear  the  whole  heaven  of  joy,  which 
suffering  has  procured  us.  Yesterday,  my  soul  was 
so  full  of  unspeakable  things,  that  I  in  vain  en- 
deavoured to  write  a  word  to  you,  beloved  parents 
and  sisters.  Even  now  a  trembling  comes  over  me, 


268         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

from  time  to  time,  as  if  the  fear,  which  I  battled 
down  yesterday,  would  to-day  find  a  vent,  and  dis- 
pute the  birthright  of  my  joy.  Even  my  dear  mother 
tongue  seerns  to  me  now  too  strange  to  express  to 
my  friends  the  newly-born  joys  of  a  father.  When 
I  look  upon  this  little  stranger,  the  origin  of  whose 
life  and  its  issues  are  lost  in  the  nothingness  of  my 
knowledge,  it  really  seems  to  me  as  if  the  Almighty 
himself  had  become  rny  guest. 

"  15th  May.  I  have  suffered  this  letter  to  lie  a 
whole  month,  and  can  now  add,  with  much  pleasure, 
that  all  three  of  us  are  very  well,  and  that  we  very  fre- 
quently do  not  know  which  of  us  is  the  most  childish. 
The  chamber  of  my  wife,  which  the  direction  of  the 
physician  had,  for  a  time,  turned  into  a  deaf  and 
dumb  institution,  now  often  resembles  a  synagogue, 
in  which  every  one  seems  to  hear  himself  only,  and 
yet  to  understand  every  other  ;  or  rather  a  heathen 
temple,  in  which  acts  of  worship  alternate  with  cu- 
linary operations.  But  in  our  hearts  it  does  not,  I 
believe,  look  quite  so  unchristianlike.  In  that  inner- 
most nursery,  the  eyes  of  all  are  thankfully  directed 
to  the  light  which  has  prepared  for  us,  from  the  seed 
of  tears,  so  transcendent  a  harvest  of  joy.  But  the 
more  I  seek  to  express  myself  on  this  heart  subject, 
the  more  I  feel,  that  all  I  would  say  would  lead  to 
nothing  more  than  to  envy  the  dumb,  who  are  never 
tempted  to  convert  their  most  precious  possessions 
into  words. 

"  My  little  man  of  taste  takes  to  himself  no  other 
food  than  that  which  is  formed  just  above  the  heart 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         269 

of  his  mother  ;  pure  genuine  Hochheimer  Driessiger, 
which  comes  from  the  grape  with  you  at  home,  just 
after  it  has  ceased  to  weep.  By  this  means  his  long 
limbs  grow  round  daily.  With  regard  to  his  looks, 
contradictory  reports  are  in  circulation  here  ;  while 
some  declare  him  to  be  a  model  of  beauty,  others 
see  in  him  the  exact  image  of  his  father,  —  par- 
ticulars, which  no  one,  except  his  mother,  under- 
stands how  to  reconcile.  He  has  sky-blue  eyes,  and 
fair  hair,  of  which  his  mother  sends  you  herewith  a 
small  sample,  in  case  it  should  not  escape  from  the 
letter  on  the  way.  4  You  must  write  to  your  father,' 
was  her  first  request  to  me,  after  the  little  one  had 
announced  the  Spring  to  us  with  his  clear,  quail  notes. 
She  wishes  him  to  be  baptized  in  his  father's  and 
his  grandfather's  name  ;  and  I  join  with  her,  dear 
father,  in  inviting  you,  affectionately,  to  this  domestic 
high  office.  The  thought  of  you,  at  least,  shall  be 
with  me,  and  help  me  in  holding  our  little  one  at  the 
fount ;  and  if  the  black  man  should  find,  that  the 
hellish  juice  of  the  apple  has  left  a  drop  behind  in 
any  corner  of  the  poor  child's  heart,  I  will  solemnly 
pronounce  your  name,  in  order  to  make  the  old  Adam 
lose  his  reckoning.  I  will  remark,  in  passing,  that 
your  name  sounds  better  in  English,  where  even  the 
most  affectionate  aunt  can  make  of  the  great  Chris- 
topher no  diminutive  Toffel.  '  Charles  Christopher 
Follen  '  together  make  a  very  good  sound  ! 

"21st.     I  have  let  this  letter  lie  by  fourteen  days 
longer,  in  spite  of  many  admonitions  from  my  better 
half.     I  hoped  for  an   answer  from  you  to   my  last 
23* 


270         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

* 

letter.  You  have  received  it,  I  hope.  We  are  all 
well,  and  intend,  very  soon,  to  introduce  our  little 
undipped  one  to  the  dear  Christendom.  Our  old, 
venerable  friend,  Dr.  Ware,  will  preside  at  the  bap- 
tism in  the  presence  of  a  few  friends.  Among  the 
invisible  absent  ones,  you,  dear  father,  will  have  the 
place  of  honor  ;  and  if,  in  our  thoughts  of  you,  dear 
friends,  the  torches  of  joy  burn  clearer,  the  beautiful 
superstition,  that  you  too  are  thinking  of  us,  will  har- 
moniously mingle  with  the  true  faith." 


CHAPTER    XII. 


He  preaches  at  Newburyport.  —  Is  invited  to  become  Pastor  of  a 
Church  there.  —  Accepts  his  Appointment  as  Professor  of 
German  Literature  in  Harvaid  College.  —  Extracts  from  Let- 
ters to  Dr.  Beck.  —  Resigns  his  Office  in  the  Divinity  School. 
—  Lectures  in  Boston  on  Moral  Philosophy.  —  Correspon- 
dence. 

THE  number  and  variety  of  Dr.  Follen's  occupa- 
tions became,  at  last,  too  much,  even  for  his  strong 
and  well-trained  body  and  mind.  He  began  to  suffer 
from  exhaustion.  In  addition  to  this,  he  felt  the  de- 
pressive influence  of  hope  deferred.  He  had  all  this 
time  trusted,  that  the  Corporation  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege would  appoint  him  Professor  of  some  par- 
ticular branch  of  instruction,  with  a  regular  Profes- 
sor's salary.  It  was  now  two  years,  that  this  faith  had 
cheered  him  amidst  the  exhausting  effects  of  such 
constant  labor.  He  began  now  to  feel  the  necessity 
of  making  some  effort  to  obtain  a  more  satisfacto- 
ry position.  He  had  been  asked,  whether  he  would 
take  the  Latin  Professorship.  This  he  declined  from 
the  conviction,  that  it  was  not  the  best  thing  for  him. 
The  entire  uncongeniality  between  the  occupations  of 
a  Latin  Professor,  who  should  perform  all  his  duty, 
and  a  teacher  of  religion  and  morals,  which  was  the 


272         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

place  his  whole  previous  life  had  fitted  him  for,  and  to 
which  his  heart  was  devoted,  made  it  seem  far  more 
expedient,  as  well  as  desirable  to  him,  to  return  to 
his  original  purpose  of  taking  the  charge  of  a  parish. 

He  had  received  an  invitation  from  the  Unitarian 
Society  in  Newburyport,  where  he  had  occasionally 
preached,  to  supply  their  pulpit  during  the  next  Col- 
lege vacation.  This  he  accepted,  after  making  it 
known  to  the  Corporation,  that,  unless  a  more  de- 
sirable situation  in  the  University  should  be  assigned 
him,  he  should  accept  any  advantageous  offer,  that 
might  be  made  him  from  any  religious  society,  to 
become  their  pastor.  Many  of  his  friends  opposed 
this  decision,  from  their  conviction,  that  his  right 
sphere  of  action  was  the  University,  and  tried  to 
persuade  him,  that,  eventually,  his  reasonable  hopes 
would  be  fulfilled.  But  he  had  become  discouraged ; 
and,  in  fact,  his  thoughts  and  affections  turned  so 
warmly  at  this  time  towards  the  Christian  ministry, 
that  he  had  almost  ceased  to  desire  a  place  in  the 
College. 

The  following  letter  to  Dr.  Channing,  written  at 
this  time,  is  sufficiently  indicative  of  his  state  of  mind. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Since  my  last  conversation  with  you,  I  have 
reflected  still  more  on  the  desire  I  then  expressed  to 
you,  to  devote  myself  exclusively  to  the  Christian 
ministry.  It  is  not  merely  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction 
with  my  present  situation,  which  assigns  to  me  four 
occupations,  each  of  which  requires  the  whole  of  my 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  273 

powers  in  order  to  satisfy  my  conscience,  and  thus, 
by  quartering  my  mind,  unfits  me  for  satisfactory  ef- 
fort ;  but  my  chief  motive  is  what  I  consider  the  real 
object  of  the  Christian  ministry. 

"  I  desire  a  permanent  occupation,  which  shall  af- 
ford me  an  opportunity,  and  make  it  my  duty,  to 
enter,  with  a  number  of  my  fellow-men,  into  that  inti- 
mate and  unreserved  intercourse,  which  is  necessary 
in  order  to  bring  home,  to  their  individual  capacities 
and  wants,  the  most  general  and  momentous  truths  ; 
to  make  them  consider  religion,  not  merely  as  an 
interesting  and  affecting  speculation,  but  as  a  reality  ; 
as  much  so,  at  least,  as  any  thing  which  they  can 
cast  their  eyes  or  lay  their  hands  upon. 

"  My  motives,  for  wishing  to  be  a  pastor  to  a  so- 
ciety in  the  country,  will  not  be  questioned,  I  be- 
lieve. By  giving  up  my  place  and  prospects  in 
College  for  the  ministry,  I  shall  increase  neither  in 
worldly  distinction  nor  income.  Besides,  a  parish 
always  presents  great  difficulties  at  the  outset,  and 
calls  for  constant,  arduous  exertion  from  the  teacher 
who  wishes  to  unite  his  people.  Distinctions  in  so- 
ciety, like  walls  of  partition,  obstruct  the  best  at- 
tempts at  creating  a  deep  and  efficient  fellow-feeling 
among  them,  and  put  to  the  test  the  strongest  faith  in 
the  superiority  of  those  gifts,  by  which  nature  has 
distinguished  all  men,  over  those  which  society  has 
settled  upon  a  few. 

"  Whoever  would  be  a  true  Pastor,  will  fail  to  ef- 
fect the  one  thing  needful,  unless  he  be  actuated,  not 
merely  by  a  desire  of  spreading  information,  or  dis- 


274         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

pensing  charity,  but  by  that  perfect  love  of  justice, 
which  gives  and  demands  the  highest  respect  for 
those  claims  of  our  common  nature,  which  socie- 
ty loves  to  settle  by  liberal  drafts  upon  the  great 
Book  of  Eternity.  The  Christian  minister  will  have 
to  prove  his  calling  by  showing  that  the  blind  receive 
their  sight,  and  that  the  gospel  is  preached  to  the 
poor. 

"  Your  friend, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

During  the  summer  vacation,  Dr.  Follen  took  his 
family  with  him  to  Newburyport,  where  he  was  en- 
gaged to  preach  for  six  weeks.  A  friend,  who  lived 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  town,  took  us  to  board  at 
her  house ;  and  there,  on  the  banks  of  the  Artichoke, 
in  one  of  those  blessed  little  nooks,  which  are  the 
true  cities  of  refuge,  which  God  has  appointed  for 
the  over-full  heart  and  over-plied  spirit,  he  found 
the  rest  he  so  much  needed.  There,  amidst  beau- 
tiful scenery,  and  yet  more  beautiful  goodness  and 
kindness,  we  enjoyed  together  a  happiness  as  unmin- 
gled  as  this  state  of  being  can  ever  allow.  Dr.  Fol- 
len's  study  hours  were  devoted  to  writing  sermons. 
Some  of  his  best  discourses  were  written  while  there. 
When  he  was  not  in  his  study,  he  was  tending  his 
boy,  singing  from  his  endless  store  of  German  songs 
to  him,  or  playing  with  our  friends'  children.  As 
a  proof  of  his  ready  sympathy  with  children  ; — one 
day  one  of  the  little  girls  lost  her  rabbit,  which  she 
was  trying  to  tame.  I  wrote  some  lines  that  pretend- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  275 

ed  to  be  from  the  rabbit,  telling  her  of  his  joy  at  his 
freedom,  and  sealed  it  with  a  thorn.  He  left  his 
writing,  in  which  he  was  at  that  time  particularly  en- 
gaged, to  get  me  a  sharp  thorn,  and  then  threw  the 
note  in  the  little  girl's  path  himself,  and  sat  watching 
her  a  long  time,  unseen,  that  he  might  enjoy  her  sur- 
prise at  its  contents,  when  she  found  it  and  read  it. 
Nature  was  a  perpetual  joy  to  him ;  he  made  it  a 
study  ;  he  thought  he  never  truly  enjoyed  any  fine 
scene  till  he  had  become  intimately  acquainted  with  it. 
What  he  loved  never  grew  old  to  him.  Most  of  his 
sermons,  at  this  time,  were  composed  in  the  open  air. 
One  very  warm  day,  while  we  were  there,  he  walked 
to  Newburyport,  to  visit  a  poor  widow,  who  had 
lost  a  son  at  sea.  He  had  to  wander  about  a  long 
while  in  the  streets  of  the  town  before  he  could  find 
her.  We  were  dining  when  he  came  in,  supposing 
he  would  wait  for  the  coolness  of  the  evening  to  re- 
turn. We  looked  to  see  him  express  weariness  in 
consequence  of  such  a  long  lonely  walk,  in  the  heat 
of  the  day  ;  but  the  light  of  Heaven  seemed  shining 
from  his  countenance,  as  he  took  his  place  among  us, 
and  said  that  he  had  had  a  very  pleasant  walk  ;  and, 
on  his  way,  he  thought  he  had  composed  a  better 
sermon  than  he  had  yet  written.  These  few  weeks 
were  among  the  happiest  of  our  lives. 

The  Society  to  which  he  was  preaching  were  well 
pleased  with  his  services,  and  invited  him  to  become 
their  Pastor.  This  proposal  was,  however,  not  made 
till  he  was  about  leaving  Newburyport.  And  just  at 
this  time  he  received  a  letter  from  his  brother-in-law, 


276  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

Mr.  Cabot,  saying,  that  he  and  his  father-in-law,  Col- 
onel Perkins,  and  Mr.  Jonathan  Phillips,  had  togeth- 
er subscribed  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
for  five  years,  upon  the  condition,  that  the  Corpora- 
tion should  establish,  during  that  time,  a  Professor- 
ship of  German  Literature,  to  which  he  should  be 
appointed. 

As  he  had  told  the  President  of  the  College,  that, 
in  case  his  duties  were  made  easier  in  Cambridge,  he 
should  return,  he  felt  bound  to  meet  the  wishes  of  his 
friends,  and  accept  this  proposed  office  of  Professor 
of  German  Literature.  He  therefore  refused  the  in- 
vitation of  the  Committee  to  become  the  Pastor  of 
their  Society,  in  the  following  terms. 

"  GENTLEMEN, 

"  According  to  my  promise,  to  write  to  you  as 
soon  as  I  could  come  to  a  final  decision,  with  regard 
to  my  connexion  with  the  College,  I  hasten  to  inform 
you  of  a  change  that  has  taken  place  in  my  present 
situation,  which  puts  it  out  of  my  power  to  accept 
the  call  of  your  Society,  to  become  their  minister. 
You  know  that  before  the  parish  met  to  decide  on 
this  question,  I  informed  the  Committee,  and  begged 
them  to  report  at  the  meeting  of  the  parish,  that  I 
had  left  Cambridge  under  the  obligation  to  return  and 
remain  there,  if  the  Corporation  of  the  College  should 
agree  to  my  proposition,  to  retrench  my  duties  of  in- 
struction, so  as  to  confer  on  me  one  of  them  as  a 
regular  Professorship.  The  Corporation  have  since 
resolved  to  create  a  new  Professorship  of  the  German 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  277 

Language  and  Literature,  and  to-day  have  nominated 
me  to  this  office,  which,  according  to  my  promise 
previously  given,  I  feel  bound  to  accept. 

"  I  have  stated  to  you,  Gentlemen,  the  plain  facts, 
and  what  I  hope  you,  as  well  as  myself,  will  consider 
my  duty  in  this  case.  But  this  duty  demands  a  sac- 
rifice of  personal  feeling,  which  renders  its  perform- 
ance difficult  and  painful.  It  is  not  only  the  interest, 
which  your  Society  has  taken  in  my  religious  servi- 
ces, it  is  an  uninterrupted  experience  of  confidence 
and  kindness,  which  has  laid  me  under  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  you,  which  I  shall  ever  cherish,  and  which 
would  have  led  me  qjieerfully  to  accept  your  invita- 
tion to  be  your  minister,  if  I  could  have  done  so 
without  violating  a  prior  obligation. 

"  The  kindness  you  have  hitherto  shown  me  as- 
sures me  that  my  declining  the  offer,  with  which  you 
have  honored  me,  will  not  prevent  you  from  continu- 
ing towards  me  the  same  sentiments  of  confidence 
and  friendship,  which  induced  you  to  intrust  to  me 
the  care  of  your  best  and  holiest  interests. 

"  I  hope  and  I  pray,  that  the  same  strong  interest 
in  genuine  Christianity,  which  has  held  your  Society 
together  until  now,  may  abide  in  you  ;  and  may  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  guide  you  in  your  choice  of  a 
minister. 

"  Your  faithful  friend  and  servant, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

Dr.  Follen  wrote  soon  afterward  the  following  let- 
ter to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing. 
VOL.  i.  24 


278  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  Cambridge,  September,  1830. 
"  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  I  can  hardly  believe  my  own  memory,  which 
tells  me,  with  the  officiousness  of  an  evil  conscience, 
that  your  kind  letter  is  already  over  a  fortnight  in  my 
hands,  and  still  no  answer  in  yours.  It  was  received 
by  me  at  Newburyport,  in  the  midst  of  the  unusual 
effort  of  writing  two  sermons  in  the  week  ;  and  since 
that  time  I  have  been  prevented  from  writing  to  you, 
partly  by  my  college  labors,  and  partly  by  circum- 
stances on  which  my  plans  for  the  future  depended, 
and  which  required  a  deliberate,  but  prompt  resolu- 
tion. Your  remarks  on  my  article,  '  On  the  Future 
State,'  in  the  l  Examiner,'  I  read  with  grateful  pleas- 
ure. As  to  what  you  say  about  my  not  having  al- 
ways resisted  a  certain  intellectual  temptation,  I  plead 
guilty,  and  have  nothing  to  bring  forward  in  self-de- 
fence, but  that  if,  in  the  course  of  my  argument,  I 
fell  in  with  many  tempting  incidents,  which  ran  away 
with  the  main  subject,  there  were  still  more  from 
which  the  author  prudently  made  his  escape,  to  spare 
himself  for  future  conquests." 

He  then  gives  Dr.  Charming  a  statement  of  his 
reasons  for  declining  the  invitation  of  the  Society 
of  Newburyport,  and  for  accepting  the  appointment 
of  German  Professor  ;  but,  as  these  reasons  have 
been  already  given,  the  remainder  of  the  letter  is 
omitted. 

Previously  to  his  leaving  Cambridge,  he  had  re- 
signed his  place  as  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday 


LIFE   OP   CHARLES   POLLEN.  279 

n 

School,  to  the  newly  elected  Pastor,  Mr.  Newell. 
Upon  his  return,  he  found  on  his  study  table,  a  beau- 
tiful token  of  the  affectionate  remembrance  of  his 
pupils,  of  which  he  made  the  following  acknowledg- 
ment. 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  On  my  return  home,  last  evening,  I  found  a  copy 
of  Stewart's  '  Moral  Philosophy,'  elegantly  bound, 
and  accompanied  by  a  note,  in  which  the  parents  of 
the  children  of  the  first  parish  request  me,  in  the  kind- 
est terms,  to  accept  of  it  as  a  token  of  their  grate- 
ful acknowledgment  of  my  services,  in  establishing 
the  Sunday  School.  As  the  names  of  none  of  the 
parents  are  mentioned  in  the  note,  I  take  the  liberty 
to  ask  you,  dear  Sir,  to  be  the  bearer  of  my  thanks 
to  them,  for  their  kind  recognition  of  a  service,  which 
had  an  abundant  reward  in  itself ;  and  to  express  to 
them  my  pleasure  at  receiving  this  beautiful  memo- 
rial of  their  sense  of  the  value  of  my  humble  efforts. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  blessed  undertaking,  to  lead  those 
who  have  but  lately  passed  the  threshold  of  life,  to 
the  arms  of  their  heavenly  Friend,  who  is  ever  ready 
to  guide  them  into  all  truth,  and  to  the  mansions  of 
eternal  joy. 

"  Though  it  be  no  longer  in  my  power  to  join  my 
personal  efforts  with  those  of  my  fellow-laborers,  for 
the  benefit  of  this  little  flock,  my  best  wishes  and 
earnest  prayers  will  ever  be  with  this  School,  of 
which  to  have  laid  the  corner-stone  will  be  to  me  a 
lasting  source  of  humble  and  grateful  joy. 


280          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"  Will  you  be  so  good,  dear  Sir,  as  to  present  to 
those,  who  have  honored  me  by  this  kind  proof  of 
their  regard,  this  imperfect  expression  of  my  grate- 
ful feelings  and  warmest  thanks. 

"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  respect,  yours,  &c. 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 
"  REV.  MR.  NEWELL." 

Dr.  Beck  had  been  appointed  Latin  Professor,  and 
Dr.  Follen  had  again  the  pleasure  of  the  society  of 
his  countryman  and  friend,  who  became  an  inmate 
of  our  house.  As  their  correspondence  terminated 
at  this  time,  I  make  a  few  more  extracts  from  those 
of  his  letters  written  from  December,  1826,  to  the 
present  date,  October,  1830. 

"  February,  1827.  I  beg  you,  if  a  road  leads 
down  from  the  heights  of  your  happiness  to  my  Cam- 
bridge, impart  something  of  your  riches  to  me,  poor 
pilgrim  and  beggar  at  the  gate  of  Heaven.  A  few 
lines  from  you  are  rnanna  to  me  in  the  desert  of  my 
labor." 

"  April,  1827.  It  was  my  plan,  dearest,  to  favor 
you,  this  vacation,  with  my  presence  ;  to  be  the  third 
in  your  union  ;  but  I  must  correct  proofs.  O,  that 
you  and  your  wife  could  come  hither  !  I  would  do 
every  thing  to  entertain  you,  be  your  matire  de  plaisir. 
For  you,  Charles,  and,  as  I  believe,  for  your  Lou- 
isa, the  religious  meetings  at  Dr.  Channing's  would 
be  of  great  interest.  I  will  tell  you  of  them  another 
time." 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  281 

"  May  30th,  1827.  I  am  preparing  myself  for 
lectures  on  Moral  Philosophy,  that  is,  the  first  gen- 
erally intelligible  principles  of  religion,  morals,  and 
law.  I  hope  to  commence  at  the  beginning  of  win- 
ter. A  fortnight  of  my  summer  vacation  I  wish  to 
pass  with  you,  and  discuss  these  matters.  The  re- 
maining four  weeks  I  shall  pass  with  Dr.  Channing, 
in  Newport,  in  order  to  become  perfectly  acquainted 
with  him  and  his  views." 

"  September  7th,  1827.  After  I  left  you  in  Spring- 
field, we  had  a  fine  drive  to  Munson.  The  follow- 
ing day  I  was  in  Providence.  I  was  for  the  most 
part  with  Dr.  Wayland,  and  my  ex-assistant,  Has- 
kins,  and  held  in  the  evening  a  strict  Gymnastic  re- 
view. I  spoke  much  with  Dr.  Wayland  on  educa- 
tion. He  stated  many  fine  views,  and  seemed  to  be 
respected  and  beloved  by  the  teachers.  He  exer- 
cises with  all.  The  following  day  I  went  to  New- 
port. Dr.  Channing  received  me  in  a  very  friendly 
manner.  He  was  on  his  farm  in  Portsmouth,  but 
one  and  a  half  miles  from  Newport,  near  the  shore, 
in  a  beautiful  region.  I  remained  there  till  August 
28th  ;  read  with  him  the  Gospels,  and  discussed 
many  theological  subjects  with  him.  He  wished  me 
to  preach  on  the  Sunday  following,  which  I  was 
obliged  to  decline,  on  account  of  our  Commence- 
ment. He  communicated  many  interesting  views. 
He  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  examine  the  views  of 
others  without  prejudice,  without  being  vain  of  his 
own  ;  but  ready  at  any  time  to  exchange  them  for  bet- 
ter. The  nearer  and  longer  I  am  acquainted  with 
24* 


282  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

him,  the  more  he  appears  to  me  as  a  spiritually  free, 
courageous,  and  affectionate  man." 

"  September  29th,  1827.  Dear  friend,  I  thank 
you  for  your  theological  remarks,  which  I  have  since 
then  found  to  be  confirmed  in  German  commentaries. 
In  general  I  find  daily  mpre  proofs,  that  a  profound 
and  many-sided  study  of  theology  is  to  be  found  more 
in  German  works,  than  in  all  others.  I  attend  Pro- 
fessor Norton,  on  the  New  Testament.  His  expla- 
nations are,  on  the  whole,  satisfactory.  I  must  now 
commence  writing  sermons,  as  soon  as  I  have  shaken 
the  mill-stone  of  the  '  German  Grammar'  from  my 
neck."  « 

"  Cambridge,  October  30th,  1827.  Notwithstand- 
ing your  friendly  invitation,  and  my  strong  desire,  I 
shall  probably  not  come  to  Northampton,  because  I 
study  Channing  much  more  than  theology." 

"June  28th,  1828.  Dear  Charles,  I  am  so  over 
head  and  ears  in  work,  that  I  can  only  write  what  is 
most  necessary.  Here  is  my  Grammar.  On  the  14th 
of  July  I  shall  have  to  read  before  the  association  of 
ministers  my  first  sermon,  on  Immortality,  and  to  an- 
swer some  questions.  Then  I  shall  probably  go,  as 
temporary  preacher,  to  Nahant  for  the  month  of  Au- 
gust." 

"  August  llth,  1828.  ^four  postscript,  concern- 
ing the  death  of  good  Virginia,  has  interrupted,  with 
its  heart-cutting  pain,  the  cheerful  feeling  produced 
by  your  letter.  She  has  been  a  true  friend  to  both 
of  us,  and  left  the  earth  and  three  uneducated  chil- 
dren to  mourn  her  with  bitter  sorrow.  Our  enlight- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  283 

ened  age,  to  be  sure,  has  refined  away  the  thought, 
that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  "hover  around  their  re- 
maining friends,  into  a  mere  aesthetical  conception  ; 
but  my  heart  tells  me,  with  an  assurance  as  if  I  my- 
self had  experienced  it,  that  the  heart  of  a  mother  re- 
mains with  her  children.  I  scarcely  dare  to  think 
of  the  grief  of  poor  Jung. 

"On  the  14th  of  July  I  read,  before  the  asso- 
ciation of  ministers,  a  sermon  on  2  Timothy  i.  10  ; 
after  which  I  was  approved.  The  succeeding  Sun- 
day I  preached  in  the  Stone  Chapel  ;  went,  on 

Tuesday,  with  E to  Nahant,  where  I  remained 

a  fortnight,  and  preached  on  both  Sundays.  I  suc- 
ceeded better  in  the  extemporaneous  prayer  than  I 
had  expected.  The  Directors  of  the  Theological 
School  have  unanimously  resolved  to  request  the 
Corporation  to  raise  my  salary  to  twelve  hundred 
dollars,  for  which  I  am  to  instruct,  in  the  Divinity 
School,  in  ecclesiastical  history  and  morals,  on  the 
three  days  when  I  am  not  occupied  in  the  College. 
To  keep  my  conscience  clear,  I  have  stated,  that 
each  of  these  departments  requires  a  man's  whole 
time,  but  that,  if  sufficient  time  for  preparation  were 
granted,  I  would  conditionally  accept  the  office,  and 
do  what  I  could.  It  is  considered  as  a  temporary  ar- 
rangement, in  the  place  of  a  Professorship  of  Moral 
Philosophy,  for  which  alone  I  am  fit,  or  of  History, 
connected  with  historical  instruction  in  the  College. 
How  imperfect  my  knowledge  in  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory is  (with  the  exception  of  the  constitutional  part), 
no  one  knows  better  than  you  and  I.  But  I  have 


284  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

to  study  it  for  myself,  and  so  I  hope  to  be  of  use  to 
the  students.  The  Corporation  will  decide  next 
week,  and,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  in  full  agree- 
ment with  the  Directors.  Then,  dear  friend,  I  corne 
to  a  brighter  spot  in  my  wanderings.  I  shall  be 
married." 

"  January  19th,  1829.  Happiness  for  the  new 
year  to  you  and  your  wife.  I  am  sorry  I  have  not 
written  for  so  long,  especially  after  your  highly  ac- 
ceptable letter  ;  but  truly,  if  you  could  transfer  your- 
self, for  a  few  moments,  you  would  not  consider  the 
mention  of  my  labors  as  a  lawyer's  plea.  Had  I  not 
a  wife,  I  should  long  ago  have  sunk  under  the  pres- 
sure of  business,  and  still  more  of  the  thoughts  con- 
cerning it. 

"  My  lectures  on  history  commence  in  a  week.  I 
continue  my  ethics  in  Divinity  Hall.  Three  days  in 
a  week  still  remain  devoted  to  German  instruction. 
I  feel,  dear  friend,  that  I  put  this  load  upon  you 
while  you  have  your  own  troubles  ;  but  there  are  so 
few  men  here  capable  of  feeling  how  painful  it  is  to 
despatch,  in  a  superficial  manner,  subjects  which 
claim  and  deserve  entire  devotion  and  love,  that  it  is 
a  real  pleasure  to  speak  on  these  subjects,  which 
have  a  language  of  their  own,  with  one  who  under- 
stands them.  That  all  these  subjects  require,  singly, 
the  same  and  greater  care  than  the  whole  receives 
here,  and  in  Germany  really  enjoy  it,  the  people  feel 
and  know  very  well;  but  they  imagine,  that  one,  who 
comes  from  this  scientific  world,  brings  with  him  a 
universal  knowledge,  which,  as  a  literary  passport, 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  285 

must,  without  further  delay,  open  to  him  and  them 
every  department  of  knowledge. 

"  February  26th,  1829.  My  letter  has  lain  until 
now  without  growing  in  the  least.  The  waves  of  la- 
bor, which  I  tried  to  escape  by  writing  to  you,  have 
met  above  my  head,  and  still  new  cares  for  my  Sun- 
day School.  Ethics  and  history  haunt  me  like  the 
spirits  of  the  unburied.  I  have  become  a  member  of 
the  Association  for  publishing  the  '  Christian  Ex- 
aminer.' I  have  sent  a  review  of  Bancroft's  trans- 
lation of  Heeren  to  Walsh.  I  think,  I  hope  at  least, 
you  will  be  pleased  with  it.  It  is  a  long  time  since 
I  have  heard  from  Basle.  O  that  Jung  were  with 
us  ;  he  cannot  but  feel  so  solitary  ;  I  go  very  seldom 
to  Boston.  My  blissful  galley  life,  here  in  Cam- 
bridge, compels  me,  for  the  present,  to  give  up  all 
connexion  with  Boston,  even  with  Dr.  Channing, 
who  sometimes  visits  us." 

"  August  29th.  I  have  this  morning  returned 
from  a  journey  to  Andover.  I  saw  Professor  Stuart 
and  the  institution.  The  arrangements,  as  far  as  they 
meet  the  eye,  are  good.  More  German  books  in 
the  library  than  anywhere  in  the  country. 

"  Miss  Wright  fills  the  theatres  with  her  lectures. 
It  is  the  sensual  system,  which  flatters  the  unculti- 
vated common  sense.  It  cannot  yet  be  determined, 
how  far  the  attention  she  receives  is  owing  to  curi- 
osity or  real  interest  in  her  views." 

"  January,  1830.  We  have  had  much  sickness  in 
our  house.  In  the  '  Christian  Examiner,'  you  will 
find  my  article  on  the  Future  State.  You  remember, 


286  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

that,  on  the  28th  of  this  month,  our  political  ap- 
prenticeship expires.  I  expect  to  receive  the  politi- 
cal baptism  from  Judge  Davis.  I  have  lately  had 
letters  from  my  parents.  They  are  well.  They  ad- 
vise me  not  to  overstep  the  broad  water  threshold, 
and  to  beware  of  the  jus  postliminii." 

"  July  30th,  1830.  I  declared  to  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  Corporation,  some  time  ago,  that  I 
could  not  keep  my  place,  such  as  it  now  is,  because 
it  intellectually  quartered  me.  They  offered  me  to 
take  the  Latin  with  twelve  hundred  dollars  for  one 
year,  keeping  the  German  on  probation  ;  and  if  the 
instruction  succeeds,  after  a  year,  to  make  me  Pro- 
fessor of  Latin  exclusively,  with  a  salary  of  fifteen 
hundred  dollars.  I  stated  to  the  President,  that  this 
was  not  my  calling,  that  you  were  the  best  man  for 
this  department,  and  that  he  should  apply  to  you. 
What  will  become  of  me,  I  know  not.  My  friends 
wish  to  found  a  German  Professorship  for  me  ;  but  I 
know  not  whether  they  will  succeed.  The  society 
of  Dr.  Andrews,  in  Newburyport,  has  invited  me  to 
preach  there  during  the  six  weeks'  vacation.  We  shall 
go  the  13th  or  14th  of  this  month. 

"And  now,  dear  friend,  being  done  with  business, 
I  can  say  a  few  words  of  my  new  fortune,  that  is,  of 
my  healthy,  strong,  and  lovely  boy,  of  father  joys, 
and  shared  mother  joys,  not  to  forget  aunt  joys.  The 
christening  was  on  the  2d  in  our  house,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  our  family  and  Grater.  Dr.  Ware  christened 
him  ;  and  the  boy  played  his  part  as  well  as  the  old  man 
did  his.  I  have  never  longed  for  you  more  eagerly  ; 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  287 

for  I  know  you  would  have  forgotten  your  sorrows  in 
the  happiness  of  your  friends." 

"  August  30th.  They  have  made  me  Professor 
of  the  German  Language  and  Literature.  I  have  de- 
clined a  unanimous  call  of  the  Society  in  Newbury- 
port  to  become  their  minister." 

"  October  13th.  I  shall,  this  winter,  deliver  lec- 
tures on  Moral  Philosophy  in  Boston.  I  have  already 
set  about  the  prospectus. 

"  The  glorious  news  from  France  has  kept  us  in 
a  continual  rejoicing.  I  do  not  think,  that  it  will 
have  an  immediate  effect  upon  Germany.  What  is 
your  opinion  ?  " 

Dr.  Follen's  great  interest  in  the  subject  of  Ethics, 
and  the  pleasure  he  had  received  from  giving  instruc- 
tion in  this  branch,  in  the  Divinity  School,  made  him 
desirous  of  retaining  this  portion  of  his  former  du- 
ties, and  he,  accordingly,  made  a  proposition  to  that 
effect  to  the  Directors  of  the  School.  New  arrange- 
ments were  then  in  progress,  between  the  Directors 
of  the  Divinity  School  and  the  Corporation,  which 
Dr.  Follen  did  not  at  that  time  know  of,  by  which 
the  funds  would  be  otherwise  employed  to  support 
the  new  office  which  Dr.  Palfrey  was  to  fill,  and 
which  made  it  manifestly  impossible,  that  Dr.  Fol- 
len's place  as  teacher  of  Ethics  should  continue. 
Had  he  fully  understood  the  case,  he  would  not  have 
proposed  to  continue  his  instructions.  I  give  the  let- 
ter from  Dr.  Walker,  which  satisfied  Dr.  Follen, 
that  his  only  course  was  to  resign  his  office  of  teacher 


288  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

of  Ethics.  He  felt  assured  of  Dr.  Walker's  per- 
sonal regard,  and  the  true  kindness  of  his  letter,  and 
that  he  would  approve  of  his  decision. 

"  Charlestown,  September  7th,  1830. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  intended  to  have  seen  you  at  Cambridge  be- 
fore this  time,  or  I  should  have  written  immediately 
after  the  meeting  of  the  Directors.  I  laid  before 
them  your  proposition  to  continue  your  instructions 
as  heretofore,  in  the  Divinity  School.  The  only 
difficulty  suggested,  was  that  occasioned  by  the  cir- 
cumstance, which  I  mentioned  in  our  conversation  on 
the  subject. 

"  The  Directors,  at  the  instance  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, have  submitted  a  plan  of  what  the  School  should 
be  at  some  future  day,  how  many  instructers  should 
be  employed,  and  how  the  studies  should  be  divided. 
This  plan  was  not  expected  to  interfere  with  any  ar- 
rangements and  engagements  already  existing  ;  but,  as 
it  became  necessary  to  make  new  arrangements  and  en- 
gagements, it  was  recommended  that  the  plan  proposed 
should  be  carried  into  effect.  According  to  this  plan, 
three  Professors  are  to  be  employed  in  the  School,  and 
to  give  the  whole  instruction,  to  one  of  whom  instruc- 
tion in  Ethics  is  assigned,  as  part  of  his  course,  to 
occupy,  however,  but  one  term  in  the  junior  year. 
Whether  this  plan  will  be  finally  adopted  or  not,  and, 
if  adopted,  whether  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  pro- 
vide, for  a  time,  at  least,  an  assistant  instructor  in 
Ethics,  I  am  unable  to  say.  You  may  rest  assured, 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  289 

however,  that  your  past  services  in  this  branch  are 
duly  appreciated  ;  and  that  if  any  one  is  to  be  engaged 
in  this  capacity,  there  is  no  person  in  the  communi- 
ty, whom  the  Directors  would  sooner  recommend. 
While  things  are  in  this  state,  however,  their  propo- 
sitions not  being  as  yet  definitely  acted  on  by  the 
Corporation,  the  Directors  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
pass  a  vote  on  the  subject.  It  will  probably  be  taken 
up  at  the  next  meeting.  Meanwhile,  I  hope  to  have 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  when  I  will  explain  what 
I  fear  this  scrawl  will  leave  as  dark  as  ever.  I  de- 
spatch it  merely  to  convince  you,  that  I  have  not  ne- 
glected your  commission,  and  to  assure  you  that  I  am, 
as  ever, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  JAMES  WALKER." 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Directors  of  the  School, 
Dr.  Follen  sent  in  his  resignation  of  the  office  of 
teacher  of  Ethics  and  Ecclesiastical  History,  which 
was  accepted  ;  and  thus  terminated  his  connexion 
with  the  Cambridge  Divinity  School. 

He  would  not  have  offered  to  continue  his  in- 
structions in  the  Divinity  School,  had  he  not  been 
led  to  believe,  that  they  were  so  interesting  to  the 
students,  and  were  thought  so  really  useful,  that  they 
would  not  be  readily  dispensed  with.  He  thought  he 
did  not  overrate  his  own  powers,  but  he  was  satisfied 
that  he  was  fitted  for  a  higher  place  than  an  assistant 
instructor  in  Ethics  ;  he  could  not  help  being  disap- 
pointed. But  it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  dwell  upon 

VOL.  i.  25 


290         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

irremediable  evils  ;  Onward  was  his  motto.  He  im- 
mediately resolved  to  deliver  a  course  of  lectures  on 
Moral  Philosophy,  in  Boston.  He  had  some  fears 
lest  they  should  not  succeed  ;  but  he  resolved  to  give 
them  as  popular  a  character  as  possible,  and  make  the 
experiment.  Moral  Philosophy,  in  all  its  relations 
and  bearings,  had  been  his  favorite  study  from  his 
earliest  youth.  He  had  collected  abundant  materials 
for  such  a  course  of  lectures,  and  his  heart  was  in 
the  work.  He  longed  to  communicate  of  his  abun- 
dance to  others ;  and  he  felt  the  importance  of  in- 
creasing his  means  of  living. 

He  published,  in  October,  bis  Prospectus,  and 
the  lectures  were  very  successful  ;  he  had  a  large 
and  very  agreeable  audience.  They  brought  him 
into  more  immediate  contact  with  the  true  heart  of 
our  society,  and  made  his  name  and  character  more 
widely  known.  They  gave  rise  to  the  following 
correspondence  with  a  person,  who  had  made  some 
hasty  remarks  in  relation  to  the  lectures.  Dr.  Fol- 
len's  letters  illustrate  a  trait  in  his  character.  While 
he  was  totally  free  from  any  undue  self-esteem,  he 
would  not  quietly  submit  to  a  false  accusation  ;  but 
would  firmly,  though  mildly,  demand  justice  for  him- 
self, as  he  would  for  another. 

"  Cambridge,  27  December,  1830. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  not  the  honor  of  a  personal  acquaintance 
with  you  ;  but  the  very  favorable  impression  I  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  's  account  of  your  character', 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  291 

encourages  me  to  address  you  with  confidence  on  a 
subject,  which  I,  as  a  Christian  and  a  clergyman, 
must  be  very  desirous  to  have  explained.  It  was 
reported  to  me,  last  night,  that  you  had  said  of  the 
principles  contained  in  my  l  Introductory  Lecture  on 
Moral  Philosophy,'  that  they  were  a  sort  of  '  Fanny- 
Wrightism'  for  the  higher  classes  ?  I  shall  always 
be  glad  to  see  my  opinions  called  in  question,  and 
criticized ;  but  I  cannot  submit  to  have  principles  as- 
cribed to  me,  which  are  entirely  opposed  to  those  I 
hold  true  and  sacred.  I  cannot  believe  that  any  man 
of  good  feeling  and  sound  sense  could  recognise  the 
principles  of  materialism  and  atheism  in  a  discourse, 
which  distinctly  asserts  the  reality  of  virtue  and  reli- 
gion ;  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospel  as  a  divine  reve- 
lation of  truth  ;  the  existence  of  one  infinite  Spirit ; 
and  the  moral  freedom  and  immortality  of  the  soul. 
I  cannot  believe,  therefore,  that  such  a  report  could 
have  originated  with  you  ;  but  am  persuaded  that  it 
must  seem  equally  important  to  you,  as  a  Christian 
and  a  gentleman,  to  prevent  your  name  from  being  at- 
tached to  a  falsehood,  as  it  is  to  me,  that  you  should 
enable  me  to  contradict  it  on  your  own  authority. 
"  Will  you  have  the  kindness  to  favor  me  with  an 
answer  as  soon  as  convenient  ? 

"  Respectfully  yours, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


292  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  December  28th,  1830. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have,  this  moment,  received  your  letter,  dated 
yesterday,  and  hasten  to  reply.  I  have  considered 
the  delivery  of  your  lectures  as  a  circumstance  of 
much  importance,  and  have  spoken  of  them  very 
freely  ;  but,  I  hope,  never  carelessly.  If  the  lan- 
guage I  have  used  has  been  so  exceedingly  miscon- 
strued, as  I  should  infer  from  your  letter,  I  deeply 
regret  it,  and  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  stating 
distinctly  what  I  mean.  It  is  perfectly  true,  that  I 
have  (in  two  instances,  I  believe,)  used  such  an  ex- 
pression as  was  reported  to  you,  if  not  the  same. 
But  I  used  it  to  make  more  clearly  intelligible  my 
views  of  a  class  of  doctrines,  of  which  you  are  not 
the  only  preacher ;  and  as,  I  supposed,  with  a  qualifi- 
cation and  limitation  so  perfectly  explicit,  as  to  be  be- 
yond the  reach  of  misapprehension.  It  seems,  how- 
ever, that  I  was  mistaken. 

"  I  suppose  that  the  will  and  understanding  of  man 
are  naturally  perfectly  opposed  to  religion,  that  is,  to 
goodness  and  truth  ;  and  that  the  affections  can  be 
led  to  the  love  of  goodness,  and  the  intellect  to  the 
perception  of  truth,  in  no  other  way  than  by  a  resist- 
ance to  the  feelings  and  passions  of  our  nature  ; 
which  resistance  is,  again,  nothing,  unless  it  rest  up- 
on a  sincere  acknowledgment  of  our  utter  inability  to 
think  a  true  thought  or  to  love  one  good  thing  with- 
out the  immediate  and  unceasing  influence  of  the 
Lord.  Further,  I  think  there  can  be  no  other  way 
of  enlightening  the  mind,  as  to  religious  or  moral 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  293 

truth,  than  by  assuming  that  the  Bible  is  true  as  noth- 
ing else  is  true  ;  that  it  is  to  be  taken  as  the  begin- 
ning and  foundation  of  all  wisdom,  as  in  itself  per- 
fectly beyond  the  question  of  reason,  and  as  throw- 
ing upon  all  questions  of  religion  and  morality  all  the 
light  they  can  possibly  receive.  And  further,  that 
reason  is  perpetually  trying  to  forget  that  she  is  a  ser- 
vant ;  and  that,  if  reason  act  upon  these  topics  with- 
out perpetual  and  perfect  submission  to  revelation, 
the  result  is  necessarily  error.  I  believe  not  many 
hold  these  doctrines  distinctly  and  positively,  but 
that  many  hold  them  confusedly  ;  and  that  it  is  just 
so  with  their  antagonist  doctrines.  Now  I  regard  all 
the  present  doings  of  Providence  as  intended  to 
reduce  into  order  the  existing  chaos  of  thought  upon 
these  subjects  ;  to  separate,  not  merely  between  man 
and  man,  but,  in  the  minds  of  all  men,  between  these 
two  doctrines  ;  to  make  men  think  consistently,  and 
to  make  them  know  what  they  actually  do  think. 
These  two  doctrines  are,  it  seems  to  me,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  all  true  faith  springs  from  and  rests  upon 
the  admission  of  the  perfect  and  entire  sufficiency 
and  sovereignty  of  the  Bible  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  all  infidelity  springs  from,  and  rests  upon,  and  is 
the  same  thing  with,  a  supposition  that  human  reason 
is  strong  and  sufficient. 

"  Now  I  think  that  Fanny  Wright  and  all  her  class 
are  permitted  by  Providence  to  preach  among  the 
unlearned,  and  those  who  are  unaccustomed  to  nice 
reasoning  and  measured  phraseology.  I  think  such 
preachers  in  no  case  create  infidelity  ;  but  they  bring 
25* 


294  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

it  out,  if  not  before  the  world,  yet  before  the  man 
himself,  and  give  to  it  distinctness  and  confirmation  ; 
and  precisely  as  they  do  this,  so  do  they  develope 
and  strengthen  belief  in  those  who  hear  and  turn  from 
them.  I  think  that  in  4  the  upper  classes'  a  similar 
work  needs  to  be  done,  because  I  believe  that  among 
them,  also,  is  there  infidelity  ;  or,  what  is  the  same 
thing  with  me,  a  belief  in  the  strength  and  sufficiency 
of  human  reason.  But  no  infidel  preacher  would  be 
heard  by  them  ;  and,  under  Providence,  a  clergyman, 
whose  character  no  one  ever  impeached,  and  whose 
belief  in  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospel,  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  nobody 
for  a  moment  ever  doubted,  lectures  to  them  con- 
cerning morality,  and  says,  that  '  religion  is  based 
upon  morality,'  and  not  that  morality  is  based  upon 
religion  ;  and  that  '  it  is  one  way  to  inculcate  duty  by 
specific  rules,  as  in  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  a 
better  way  to  ask  of  reason  what  is  right.'  I  do  not, 
of  course,  pretend  to  quote  your  words  precisely  ;  but, 
if  I  err  in  them,  I  beg  you  to  correct  me.  I  have  most 
distinctly  said  elsewhere,  that  I  heard  nothing  from 
you,  which  might  not  be  explained  into  accordance 
with  what  seems  to  me  vital  truth.  I  think  your  ex- 
pressions would  excite  in  the  minds  of  the  hearers 
exactly  opposite  trains  of  thought  and  conclusions, 
according  to  the  prevailing  feeling  and  opinion  of 
each  individual.  I  have  elsewhere  endeavoured  to 
say,  that  I  considered  you  as  unconsciously  helping 
your  hearers  to  choose  which  master  they  would 
serve,  reason  or  revelation.  Most  firmly  do  I  be- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  295 

lieve  that  both  are  necessary  ;  but  I  strive  never  to 
forget  that  both  cannot  be  masters.  You  speak  of 
the  principles  of  materialism  and  atheism.  I  acknowl- 
edge but  one  principle  of  either,  or  of  any  other  falsi- 
ty ;  and  this  is,  the  sufficiency  of  human  reason.  This 
principle  I  thought  fairly  deducible  from  your  first 
lecture  (the  only  one  I  have  heard)  by  those  who 
wished  to  deduce  it,  or  to  find  for  it  support  and  con- 
firmation ;  but  I  never  meant  to  charge  you,  and  I 
am  sure  no  person  ever  thought  I  meant  to  charge 
you,  with  materialism  and  atheism.  Whenever  I 
have  coupled  with  your  name  the  odious  name  of 
Fanny  Wright,  —  a  name  as  odious  to  you  as  to  me, 
—  I  did  think  I  could  not  be  misunderstood  as  to  the 
use  I  would  make  of  it  ;  I  am  very  sorry  to  find  my- 
self mistaken. 

"  Let  me  add,  that  I  have  explicitly  declared,  that 
I  did  not  in  the  least  doubt  your  possessing  that  be- 
lief of  the  mission  of  Christ,  of  the  authority  of  his 
words,  and  the  reality  of  his  miracles,  which  you 
constantly  preach  and  profess.  Nor  can  I  doubt  it, 
until  either  your  language,  or  my  opinion  of  your  sin- 
cerity, is  much  changed.  My  opinion  of  you  in  this 
respect  has  been  uniform  ;  originally  derived  from 
our  common  friends,  and  confirmed  by  what  I  have 
heard  from  you  or  of  you.  I  have  expressed  this 
opinion  elsewhere  very  plainly,  and  not  unfrequently  ; 
and  I  should  do  much  gratuitous  violence  to  my  own 
feelings  if  I  expressed  any  other. 

"  1  have  replied  instantly  to  your  letter,  at  the 
risk,  perhaps,  of  speaking  confusedly  ;  and  I  should 


296  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

be  glad  of  a  reply,  or  of  an  interview,  or  of  both. 
Of  course,  I  do  not  suppose  that  we  can  at  all  agree 
in  our  systems  ;  but,  if  I  have  failed  to  speak  of  you, 
at  any  time,  honestly  and  kindly,  I  have  committed 
a  sin,  and  I  wish  to  know  it  and  to  repent  of  it. 
"  With  sincere  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant." 


"  Cambridge,  29  December,  1830. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  received  your  answer  last  night;  and,  much  as 
I  regret  to  find  the  report,  which  I  hoped  to  be  able 
to  contradict  on  your  own  authority,  confirmed  by 
yourself,  I  believe  that  you  did  not  intend  the  injuri- 
ous effect  which  that  report,  if  credited  by  others, 
is  calculated  to  produce.  Whatever,  therefore,  be 
the  effect,  I  shall  not  charge  you  with  it,  because  I 
believe  your  intentions  such  as  you  express  them, 
honest  and  kind.  The  only  thing  with  which,  in 
your  place,  I  think  I  should  reproach  myself,  would 
be  a  want  of  attention  to  the  obvious  meaning  and 
natural  purport  of  my  words.  You  know  it  is  gen- 
erally the  case,  that,  of  a  conversation,  if  it  be  re- 
peated, and  become  a  report,  only  the  most  striking 
expressions,  such  as  are  framed  for  the  purpose  of 
characterizing  or  stigmatizing  a  particular  object,  are 
apt  to  be  remembered.  You  acknowledge  to  have 
used  such  an  expression,  if  not  the  same,  as  was  re- 
ported, namely,  that  my  doctrine  was  a  sort  of  '  Fan- 
ny- Wrightism'  for  the  higher  classes.  By  *  Fanny- 
Wrightism,'  I  believe  everybody  understands  the 


t 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          297 

principles  professed  and  taught  by  that  lady,  that  is, 
materialism  and  atheism.  And  the  addition  'for  the 
higher  classes'  only  adds  to  that  '  odious  name,'  as 
you  yourself  call  it,  the  further  reproach  of  dressing 
up  corruption  in  '  purple  and  fine  linen.' 

"  It  is  obvious,  that  the  fact  of  my  belonging  to  a 
class  of  Christians,  who  are  charged  with  infidelity  by 
those  from  whose  opinions  they  feel  bound  in  con- 
science to  dissent,  is  likely  to  secure  popularity  to 
such  a  remark,  particularly  if  applied  to  a  foreigner, 
who  has  the  misfortune  to  be  a  German  theologian. 
I  wish  you  would  ask  yourself,  whether,  under  these 
circumstances,  you  think  it  considerate  to  couple  so 
'  odious  a  name  '  with  a  man,  '  whose  character,'  you 
say,  '  no  one  ever  impeached,  and  whose  belief  in  the 
authenticity  of  the  Gospel,  the  existence  of  God, 
and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  nobody  for  a  mo- 
ment ever  doubted  '  ! 

"  With  regard  to  the  doctrines  you  express  in 
your  letter,  I  cannot  reason  with  you,  partly  from 
want  of  time,  and  particularly  because  the  extent  you 
allow  to  reason  in  matters  of  faith,  would  not  enable 
me  to  appeal  even  to  the  sense  of  the  Bible  itself, 
which  my  reason  compels  me  to  acknowledge  as  a 
record  of  revealed  truth,  whilst  without  reason  I 
should  look  upon  it  as  a  collection  of  white  leaves, 
with  black  lines  consisting  of  straight  and  crooked 
strokes. 

"  As  you  request  me  to  rectify,  if  I  found  it  neces- 
sary, the  statement  of  my  lecture  contained  in  your 
letter,  I  will  add,  that  1  have  not  said,  and  do  not 


298  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

believe,  that  religion  is  founded  upon  morality,  but 
that  both  have  a  common  foundation  in  human  nature, 
and  are  essentially  connected.  Again,  in  speaking  of 
the  two  ways  to  teach  morality,  either  by  reason  in- 
quiring into  its  foundation,  or,  as  it  is  done  in  the 
1  Ten  Commandments,'  by  prescribing  specific  rules, 
I  have  not  said  that  the  former  is  a  better,,  but  simply 
that  it  is  another  way. 

"  Allow  me  to  express  to  you  my  respect  for  the 
frankness  with  which  you  have  asserted  your  own 
peculiar  faith,  as  well  as  for  your  readiness  to  repair 
whatever  may  grow  out  of  the  report  you  have  unin- 
tentionally given  rise  to.  Whether  the  remarks  I 
have  here  made  be  mistaken  or  true,  I  hope,  at  least, 
that  you  will  recognise  in  them  the  intention  which 
prompted  them,  —  to  '  speak  the  truth  in  love.' 
41  Yours  respectfully, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

"  December  Slsf,  1830. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  did  not  intend  to  justify,  but  to  explain  my  use 
of  that  expression.  I  think  with  you  that  it  was 
wrong,  and  the  more  wrong  as  you  are  a  clergyman 
and  a  stranger.  That  it  would  be  popular  with  the 
orthodox,  no  ways  reconciles  me  to  it,  for  I  am  as 
little  in  unity  with  them  as  with  their  opponents. 

"  It  is  well  to  avoid  expressions  that  are  peculiarly 
liable  to  abuse  or  mistake,  for  the  very  reason  that  no 
care  will  entirely  suffice  to  prevent  misunderstanding. 
For  instance,  in  your  letter  you  say,  and  in  reference 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         299 

to  me,  '  Without  reason  I  should  look  upon  it  (the 
Bible)  as  a  collection  of  white  leaves  with  black 
lines,  consisting  of  straight  and  crooked  strokes.' 
Now,  without  reason,  /  could  not  tell  the  straight  from 
the  crooked  strokes  ;  and  I  believe  I  have  said  noth- 
ing which  tended  to  the  destruction  or  disregard  of 
reason.  Without  it,  there  could  be  no  revelation  ; 
but  when  reason  claims  to  be  equal  or  independent, 
the  light  becomes  darkness.  This  is  what  I  meant 
to  say  ;  but  if  I  learn,  that  you  think  me  opposed  to 
reason,  to  its  free  and  full  exercise,  or  blind  to  its 
essential  importance,  I  shall  only  regret  that  you  so 
mistake  me,  and  hope  for  times  when  thoughts  and 
words  will  be  clearer.  I  do  not  think  rationalism 
will  pass  away,  but  will  have  the  breath  of  life 
breathed  into  it ;  and  this  will  be  when  Reason  shall 
acknowledge,  that  all  her  light  and  life  are  perpetu- 
ally flowing  from  Him,  who  alone  is  light  and  life, 
and  whose  divine  wisdom  is  the  Word. 

"  At  all  events,  I  am  sure  you  do  not  wish  to  mis- 
take me,  and  I  am,  with  much  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant." 

The  course  of  lectures  on  Moral  Philosophy 
forms  one  volume  of  this  collection  of  his  works. 

The  success  of  this  effort  to  obtain  a  hearing  from 
the  public  was  a  great  pleasure  to  him.  He  felt  such 
things  more  than  most  men,  not  as  a  gratification  of 
his  self-love  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term ; 
but  he  valued  popularity  as  a  means  of  enforcing 
what  he  thought  great  truths,  for  which  he  was  always 
ready  to  labor,  to  suffer,  and,  if  need  were,  to  die. 


300  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

All  the  depression  of  spirits,  which  his  disappoint- 
ment in  the  Divinity  School  had  occasioned,  passed 
away  ;  —  the  great  free  school  of  the  world  was  the 
one  he  ever  preferred  to  teach  in.  He  preached 
whenever  he  was  invited,  which  was  frequently,  and 
he  often  said,  "  After  all,  1  like  to  preach  to  many 
parishes  better  than  to  one  ;"  and  in  all  respects  his 
life  was  just  what  he  most  desired.  A  passage  from 
a  letter  he  wrote  to  his  father,  at  this  time,  shows  his 
happy  state  of  mind. 

"  Cambridge,  May  25th,  1832. 

"  My  attachment  to  this  glorious  country  increases 
daily,  although  my  love  to  my  old  father-land  does 
not  grow  cold.  Many  glorious  productions  flourish 
and  increase  in  Europe,  but  man,  who  is  there  only 
a  hot-house  plant,  finds  here  a  native  soil. 

"  Could  I  only  show  you  my  little  boy  with  his 
forget-me-not  eyes,  and  his  sportive  shouts  !  If  I 
could  send  you,  with  our  greetings,  a  joyful  flash  from 
his  blue  eyes,  it  would  suffice  to  banish  many  dark 
thoughts  of  our  separation." 

It  was  Dr.  Follen's  custom,  at  that  time,  to  write 
till  one  or  two  o'clock  at  night,  and  he  loved  to  have 
the  cradle  of  his  infant  son  by  his  side,  and  rock  him 
while  he  was  writing,  that  his  mother  might  sleep. 
Many  of  his  lectures  were  written  in  this  way. 
Through  all  his  different  trials,  hope  had  prevailed 
in  his  mind,  but  now  it  reigned  supreme  ;  he  had  no 
fear.  He  felt  almost  sure,  that,  at  the  termination  of 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  301 

the  five  years,  his  professorship  would  be  either  con- 
tinued by  the  Corporation  of  the  College,  or  that 
they  would  offer  him  some  other  satisfactory  place. 
All  his  old  predilections  in  favor  of  a  college  life  re- 
vived. His  attachment  to  the  University,  in  which 
he  had  already  been  a  teacher  for  more  than  five  years, 
became  stronger.  He  was  now  one  of  the  Faculty, 
and  his  heart  glowed  with  the  desire  and  purpose  to 
be  a  truly  useful  servant  of  the  institution.  All  was 
well  with  him  ;  his  soul  seemed  overflowing  with 
joy.  His  recreation  from  study  or  college  labors 
was  playing  with  his  little  boy,  and  singing  German 
songs  to  him.  He  had  ceased  to  feel  that  he  was 
singing  the  sacred  songs  of  home  in  a  strange  land. 
He  was  so  well  pleased  with  his  situation  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  so  confident  that  he  should  remain  there, 
that  he  purchased  a  piece  of  land,  and  built  himself 
a  house.  He  looked  forward  to  its  being  a  perma- 
nent home  for  life.  His  fond  anticipations  led  him 
so  far  as  to  make  him  leap  over  the  intervening  years, 
and  enjoy  the  thought  of  how  well  the  nursery,  which 
we  had  planned  for  our  infant  boy,  would  serve  him 
for  a  study,  when  his  childish  years  should  have  passed 
away,  and  he  should  be  a  student  in  the  University, 
in  which  his  father  was  a  teacher. 

Dr.  Follen  received  this  summer  a  letter  from  the 
friend,  with  whom  we  had  passed  some  happy  weeks 
the  summer  before  ;  an  extract  from  his  reply  shows 
his  occupations  and  his  state  of  mind. 

VOL.  i.  26 


302  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  Cambridge ,  June  llth,  1831. 
"Mr  DEAR  SIR, 

***** 
"  However  pleasant  it  would  be  to  us  to  seek  a 
shelter  under  your  elms,  and  under  your  hospitable 
roof,  we  must  forego  this  and  like  pleasures  for  in- 
dispensable occupations,  which  detain  us  here,  such 
as  the  building  of  our  new  house,  and  the  republica- 
tion  of  my  '  Grammar.'  Nothing  but  actual  sickness 
would  induce  us  to  leave  home,  and  then  we  should 
go  to  the  seashore  for  the  bracing  effect  of  the  air ; 
but  we  hope  we  shall  not  be  obliged  to  leave  home  at 
all. 

"  Mrs.  Follen  and  myself  feel  grateful  to  you  for 
your  remembrance  of  little  Charley,  perhaps  the 
more  so  from  the  circumstance  of  his  being  now 
much  troubled  from  cutting  teeth. 

"  Our  residence  at  '  the  Mills  '  will  always  be  one 
of  unrningled  pleasure.  When  our  new  house  is 
finished,  we  shall  have  a  spare  room,  which  we  shall 
consider  as  yours  whenever  you  will  do  us  the  favor 
to  occupy  it. 

*.*  Yours,  with  respect  and  affection, 

«C.  FOLLEN." 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


He  is  inaugurated  as  Professor.  —  His  inaugural  Address.  —  Cor- 
respondence with  Mr.  John  Quincy  Adams. —  His  Eulogy  on 
Spurzheim. —  Lectures  on  Schiller. —  Domestic  Troubles. — 
Death  of  his  Father.  —  Letter  to  his  Mother.  —  Extracts  from 
his  Father's  Letters.  —  He  sets  out  on  a  Journey. 

WHEN  we  took  possession  of  our  new  house,  in 
the  autumn  of  1831,  Dr.  Follen's  pleasure  was  very 
great.  "  At  last,"  he  said,  "  I  have  a  study  to  my 
mind.  It  is,  indeed,  a  blessing  to  me  to  have  a  place 
for  my  books  and  papers  ;  now  I  shall  be  able  to  do 
something."  No  being  ever  lived,  who  had  a  keener 
relish  for  all  the  comforts  and  nameless  delights  of  a 
pleasant,  convenient  house.  His  perceptions  of  or- 
der and  beauty  were  vivid,  and  made  him  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  the  unharmonious  influences  of  an  un- 
certain and  changing  mode  of  life.  We  had  already 
moved  twice  since  our  marriage,  and  his  hopeful  spirit 
relied  almost  with  certainty  upon  the  thought,  that 
now  he  was  established.  As  he  laid  out  his  garden, 
and  set  out  his  trees  and  shrubs,  he  already  looked 
upon  them  as  old  friends  ;  and  his  generous  heart  re- 
joiced at  the  prospect  of  long  and  liberally  exercising 
that  simple  but  true  hospitality,  which,  with  him,  was 


304  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

so  unquestioned  a  duty,  that  he  never  asked  whether 
it  was  a  pleasure,  and  so  high  a  pleasure  that  he  never 
thought  of  it  as  a  duty.  As  we  had  some  rooms  to 
spare,  we  took  four  young  men  to  board  with  us,  who 
made  a  part  of  our  family,  and  did  not  interfere  with 
our  domestic  quiet.  The  love  and  reverence,  that 
these  young  men  felt  for  Dr.  Follen,  will  last  as  long 
as  they  have  memory  or  affection. 

One  Sunday,  during  this  happy  period,  when  Dr. 
Follen  returned  from  preaching  in  a  neighbouring 
town,  he  told  me,  that  he  had  taken  up  a  negro 
man  on  the  road,  and  that  he  found  him  a  very 
interesting  companion.  He  said  it  was  raining  very 
hard,  and  the  man  looked  rather  infirm,  and  was 
walking  slowly,  and  as  if  he  could  not  well  stand 
against  the  storm.  He  took  him  all  dripping  wet 
into  his  chaise,  and  the  poor  man  soon  began  to 
talk  with  him  about  slavery,  and  told  him  of  Mr. 
Walker,  the  author  of  a  very  incendiary  pamphlet, 
which  he  had  sent  at  his  own  expense  to  the  South. 
He  said  Mr.  Walker  had  died  very  suddenly,  and  the 
colored  people  thought,  from  appearances,  that  he 
had  been  poisoned.  His  accidental  conversation  with 
this  poor  man  excited  his  mind  powerfully,  and  it 
was  not  long  after  this,  that  Dr.  Follen  visited  Mr. 
Garrison,  whose  efforts  for  the  slaves  he  had  heard  of. 

Dr.  Follen  was  formally  introduced  into  his  office 
of  Professor  of  German  Literature,  just  one  year 
after  his  appointment.  His  Inaugural  Address  was 
delivered  to  a  very  small  audience.  He  had  taken 
great  pains  with  it,  and  supposed  that  there  would  be 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  305 

the  number  of  hearers  usual  upon  such  occasions  ;  it 
was  not  so.  When  he  noticed  what  a  mere  handful 
of  people  were  present,  as  he  told  me  afterwards, 
he  felt  depressed  ;  but  it  was  only  for  a  moment.  No 
one,  who  heard  him,  would  have  known  from  his 
manner,  that  he  even  perceived  how  small  his  audi- 
ence was.  I  was  troubled  till  I  noticed  his  serene 
countenance,  and  then  I  cared  no  more  for  the  num- 
ber of  his  hearers. 

After  his  address  was  made  public,  he  received 
many  very  gratifying  letters  from  distinguished  indi- 
viduals, expressive  of  their  great  pleasure  in  the  pe- 
rusal of  it,  and  in  the  establishment  of  the  professor- 
ship. From  them  I  select  those  of  John  Quincy 
Adams  and  Edward  Livingston. 

"Qwinq/,  24th  October,  1831. 
"  PROFESSOR  CHARLES  FOLLEN, 

"  DEAR  SIR, 

u  In  return  for  the  copy  of  your  Inaugural  Dis- 
course, which  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving,  I 
ask  your  acceptance  of  two  recent  performances  of 
my  own.  The  perusal  of  your  discourse  has  re- 
newed the  gratification  with  which  I  heard  it,  and  my 
pleasure,  both  at  the  institution  of  the  professorship 
of  the  German  Language  and  Literature,  and  at  the 
selection  of  the  Professor.  I  am  the  more  flattered, 
at  the  introduction  of  the  names  of  Klopstock  and 
Wieland  into  the  list  of  eminent  writers  of  various 
literature,  because,  on  my  mentioning  to  you,  that  I 
had  noticed  their  omission,  you  observed,  that  Klop- 
26* 


306  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

stock  should  have  been  included  in  your  list,  but  ex- 
pressed a  doubt  whether  Wieland  was  entitled  to  the 
same  honor. 

"  Thirty  years  have  passed  away  since  a  residence 
of  four  years  at  Berlin,  and  excursions  into  Saxony 
and  Silesia,  had  given  me  an  enthusiastic  relish  for 
German  literature.  At  that  time,  Wieland  was  there 
I  think  decidedly  the  most  popular  of  the  German 
poets,  and  although  there  was  in  his  genius  neither 
the  originality  nor  the  deep  pathos  of  Gothe,  or 
Klopstock,  or  Schiller,  there  was  something  in  the 
playfulness  of  his  imagination,  in  the  tenderness  of 
his  sensibility,  in  the  sunny  cheerfulness  of  his  phi- 
losophy, and  in  the  harmony  of  his  versification, 
which,  to  me,  were  inexpressibly  delightful.  His 
morals  had  too  much  of  the  '  quidlibet  audendi '  of 
poetry,  either  for  my  principles  or  my  taste  ;  but  I, 
from  whom  Ovid,  and  La  Fontaine,  and  Voltaire, 
and  Ariosto,  and  Pope,  had  extorted  long  and  re- 
luctant admiration,  could  not  subject  Wieland  to  a 
more  severe  scrutiny  than  they  had  passed  through. 

"Among  my  exercises  in  learning  the  German 
language,  was  a  complete  translation  into  English 
verse  of  his  '  Oberon,'  which  I  should  have  publish- 
ed, but  that  Mr.  Sotheby  got  the  start  of  me.  When 
I  saw  his  translation,  I  was  content  to  keep  mine  in 
my  porte-feuille.  My  German  teacher  sent  a  copy 
of  the  first  Canto  of  my  translation  to  Wieland  him- 
self, and  asked  him  his  opinion  of  it,  which  he  gave 
with  frankness.  He  compared  it  with  Sotheby's 
translation,  then  just  published,  and  gave  the  palm  of 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  307 

poetry  to^  him,  and  of  fidelity  to   me  ;   a  decision 
which  my  own  judgment  fully  confirmed. 

"  As  I  took  the  liberty  of  naming  to  you  two  Ger- 
man poets,  with  whose  works  I  was  acquainted,  I 
now  take  that  of  inquiring  what  are  the  writings  of 
Richter  and  Tieck,  which  have  given  them  celeb- 
rity. I  had  some  knowledge  of  Voss,  and  Musaeus, 
and  Auguste  La  Fontaine,  and,  above  all,  Burger. 

"  Since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  you,  I  have 
met  with  a  little  volume  of  autobiography  of  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott,  from  which  it  appears,  that  both  he  and  his 
predecessor,  Monk  Lewis,  are  pupils  of  the  German 
school,  and  that  Burger's  '  Lenore'  was  the  mother 
of  the  'Lay,'  and  'Lady,'  and  '  Marmion,'  and  the 
prodigious  family  of  the  Waverleys.  It  was  a  noble 
descent.  1  was  at  Berlin  when  the  English  transla- 
tions of  '  Lenore'  appeared  by  the  half  dozen,  not 
one  of  which,  Scott's  included,  has  a  spark  of  Bur- 
ger's fire.  Burger's  '  Wilhelm'  was  killed  at  the 
Prager  Schlacht.  Scott  makes  him  a  crusader  in 
Palestine.  Lessing  very  justly  ridicules  Voltaire  for 
bringing  a  ghost  from  the  tomb  at  noonday,  in  the 
presence  of  multitudes  of  people.  A  ghost  five  hun- 
dred years  old  is  as  much  out  of  season,  as  a  ghost 
at  noonday  is  out  of  time.  •  The  thrilling  interest  of 
'  Lenore'  is,  that  her  lover  had  left  her  to  go  with 
Konig  Friedrich^s  Macht,  and  that  the  ballad  was 
published  while  King  Frederick  yet  lived.  How  was 
it  possible  that  Scott  should  not  feel  this  ? 
"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  J.  Q.  ADAMS." 


308  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Washington,  November  1st,  1831. 
"  SIR, 

"  I  have  read  with  great  pleasure  the  Inaugural 
Discourse  you  have  had  the  kindness  to  send  me.  It 
marks  a  new  era  in  our  classical  course  of  education ; 
and  the  introduction  of  the  German  literature  and 
language  cannot  but  have  a  powerful  effect  on  our 
own.  The  influence,  which  you  state  the  French 
language  and  style  to  have  had  at  one  period  in  cor- 
rupting the  simplicity  of  the  German,  may  also,  I 
think,  be  observed  in  the  English.  It  is  difficult  to 
avoid  the  imitation  of  words  and  turns  of  expres- 
sion, from  a  language  which  is  generally  studied  and 
admired  ;  and  the  lustre  of  the  French  literature  in 
the  age  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  produced,  in  a  great- 
er or  less  degree,  in  the  succeeding  century,  similar 
effects  on  all  the  languages  of  Europe.  Whether 
this  admixture  improved  or  injured  them,  is  some- 
what doubtful.  Where  there  was  little  analogy  in  the 
structure  of  the  language  into  which  the  change  was 
introduced,  with  that  of  the  French,  the  patchwork 
became  apparent.  This  seems  to  be  the  case  with 
the  German ;  and  one  but  little  acquainted  with  its 
forms  of  expression  must  observe  the  effect  you  men- 
tion. The  German  and  the  English,  on  the  contrary, 
may  easily  amalgamate,  and  improve  each  other. 
The  establishment  of  your  chair,  I  therefore  con- 
sider as  of  great  importance  in  a  philological  view, 
independent  of  the  rich  mine  of  literature  and  sci- 
ence, which  it  opens  to  the  industry  of  the  rising  gen- 
eration. 

"It  is  fortunate  for  the  country,  that  the  task  of 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  309 

separating  the  valuable  material  from  the  dross  has 
fallen  into  such  able  hands,  and  honorable  to  the  Uni- 
versity to  have  discovered  and  availed  itself  of  the 
advantage  such  talents  afford. 

"  I  am,  Sir,  with  great  consideration, 

"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"EDWARD  LIVINGSTON. 
"  To  PROFESSOR  FOLLEN, 
"  University  of  Cambridge." 

Dr.  Follen's  reply  to  Mr.  Adams's  letter  he  has 
been  so  kind  as  to  furnish  me  with. 

"  Cambridge,  1st  December,  1831. 

"DEAR    SlR, 

"  I  cannot  employ  a  part  of  Thanksgiving  day 
more  properly  than  by  acknowledging  your  kind  and 
very  interesting  letter,  as  well  as  the  two  eloquent 
and  instructive  orations,  by  which  it  was  accompa- 
nied. The  warm  praise  of  German  literature,  from 
one  who  possesses  the  master-key  to  all  the  magnifi- 
cent halls  and  secluded  cells  of  universal  literature, 
could  not  but  be  highly  grateful  to  an  individual,  who, 
amidst  the  benefits  of  this  land  of  manly  freedom, 
has  not  ceased  to  bless  the  leading-strings  of  his  in- 
fant mind.  Your  criticism  on  some  German  authors 
proves,  that,  in  appreciating  the  merits  of  foreign 
works,  you  are  not  satisfied  with  settling  their  value 
by  the  price-current  of  the  reading  world,  but  ac- 
cording to  their  individual  excellence.  A  critic,  who 
combines  with  the  impartial  and  comprehensive  glance 


• 

310         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN, 

of  a  general  scholar  the  sure  and  delicate  touch  of 
a  native,  knows,  that,  also  in  the  republic  of  letters, 
the  market  price  is  not  the  legitimate  standard  by 
which  to  determine  the  comparative  value  of  Spartan 
iron  and  Persian  gold. 

"  With  regard  to  the  two  authors,  about  whose 
merits  you  inquire,  I  would  observe,  that  those  of 
J.  P.  F.  Richter  rest  on  a  very  extensive  as  well 
as  deep  foundation.  Of  the  numerous  family  of  his 
novels,  I  will  mention  only  his  '  Titan,'  his  '  Fle- 
geljahre,'  'Quintus  Fixlein,'  and  '  Katzenberger's  Ba- 
dereise.'  His  '  Levana,'  (on  education,)  and  his 
1  Selina,'  (on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,)  are  proofs 
of  his  philosophic  genius.  These  various  produc- 
tions are  the  manifestations  of  a  mind  equally  distin- 
guished by  elevation  and  tenderness  of  heart,  an  exu- 
berant and  plastic  imagination,  and  the  Proteus  power 
of  wit,  which,  in  its  lawless,  childlike  playfulness, 
unshapes  all  things  into  a  merry  chaos,  in  order  to 
remodel  the  world  after  its  own  fashion. 

"  Tieck  stands  at  the  head  of  the  romantic  school 
in  Germany.  His  most  interesting  productions  are 
contained  in  a  collection  of  tales  and  plays,  called 
'  Phantasus.'  There  is  no  writer  that  I  know,  who  has 
called  forth  and  unfolded  more  powerfully  that  prin- 
ciple in  our  nature,  which  makes  us  capable  alike  of 
true  religion  and  of  superstition ;  a  principle  which 
is,  perhaps,  of  all  the  most  characteristic  feature  in 
the  German  character ;  that  simplicity,  which  walks 
by  faith,  which  is  ever  ready  to  believe  what  it  has 
not  seen  ;  and,  though  it  receives  many  things  without 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         311 

reason,  has,  on  the  other  hand,  the  privilege  of  per- 
ceiving what  reason  cannot  see  ;  what  is  hidden  from 
the  wise  and  the  prudent,  and  revealed  to  the  simple. 
The  tales  of  Tieck  are  characterized  by  a  continuous 
transition  from  the  most  simple  every-day  events  of 
life,  to  those  which  lie  beyond  all  experience  and 
all  calculation.  This  intimate  connexion  at  once 
gives  to  the  miraculous  the  assurance  of  experience, 
and  to  the  simplest  Teachings  of  the  heart  their  true 
heavenly  import,  by  showing  that  credulity  is  but  the 
infancy  of  faith. 

"  While  Tieck  was  among  the  first,  who  directed 
the  misguided  taste  of  the  public  to  the  true  sources 
of  sentiment  and  poetry,  he  wrote  the  death-warrant 
of  a  sickly  sentimentality  in  his  *  Puss  in  Boots,' 
( Der  gestiefelte  Kater, )  the  best,  if  not  the  only 
good  German  comedy  ;  making  the  stage  an  Aristo- 
phanic  self-exhibition  of  authors  and  critics,  the  pub- 
lic and  the  court. 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  interesting  incident  from 
your  own  literary  life  during  your  residence  in  Ger- 
many. It  brought  to  my  mind  again  many  interest- 
ing and  pleasing  features  of  Wieland's  personal  char- 
acter, with  which  I  became  acquainted  through  his 
son,  Ludwig  Wieland,  a  friend  of  mine  during  my 
residence  at  Jena.  He  was  the  editor  of  the  most 
liberal  and  powerful  periodical  of  that  time,  —  '  The 
Patriot.'  He  died  in  1819. 

"  Your  remarks  on  Scott's  translation  of  '  Lenore,' 
have  afforded  much  pleasure  to  me,  as  well  as  to 
some  of  my  friends.  Indeed,  if  the  translation  were 


312  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

the  work  of  an  unknown  writer,  instead  of  that  of  the 
late  '  Great  Unknown,'  I  should  be  strongly  tempted 
by  this  strange  translation  of  the  '  Seven  Years' 
War,'  from  the  eighteenth  to  the  thirteenth  century, 
to  charge  the  transferrer  with  having  unluckily  con- 
founded King  Frederic  Second,  of  Prussia,  with  his 
namesake,  the  crusading  German  Emperor. 
"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  great  respect, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

Dr.  Follen  gave  his  first  course  of  lectures  on 
German  Literature,  to  the  students,  this  year.  His 
lectures  were  well  attended.  As  one  proof  of  the 
estimation  in  which  they  were  held  by  the  students 
themselves,  and  of  their  estimation  of  their  teacher 
in  this  department,  I  give  an  extract  from  the  Rev. 
Mr.  S.  Osgood's  Class  Oration,  in  1832. 

"  In  the  facilities  of  education  we  have  been  most 
happy.  We  have  been  educated  at  an  institution, 
that  has  no  rival  in  this  country  in  its  endowments 
and  advantages.  We  have  enjoyed  its  privileges, 
too,  at  the  period  of  its  greatest  prosperity.  It  has 
been  our  lot  to  have  witnessed  numerous  and  valuable 
additions  to  its  advantages,  many  of  which  might  be 
spoken  of  with  gratitude.  As  the  last,  and  what  has 
been  to  us  the  most  important  of  these,  may  be  men- 
tioned the  creation  of  a  professorship  of  the  German 
Language  and  Literature.  As  speaking  the  English 
language,  we  must  regard  with  joy  an  event  so  prom- 


LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN.  313 

ising  to  enrich  us  by  the  study  of  a  kindred  tongue,  — 
the  only  foreign  language  that  can  contain  the  thought 
of  Shakspeare.  As  citizens  of  a  free  country,  we 
must  rejoice  at  what  tends  to  diffuse  a  high-toned 
and  free-spirited  foreign  literature  ;  a  literature  imbu- 
ed with  the  holy  patriotism  and  heavenly  fervor  of 
a  Schiller,  and  rising  mightier  and  freer  from  the 
weight  of  political  oppression,  as  if  awakened  into 
power  by  the  very  effort  to  crush  it. 

"For  the  gift  we  may  thank  the  giver.  For  the 
able  and  kind  manner  in  which  it  has  come  to  us,  we 
should  express  our  gratitude  to  one,  who  has  labored 
assiduously  for  our  improvement ;  and  who  must  rich- 
ly attain  the  wish,  expressed  in  his  '  Inaugural  Ad- 
dress,' '  to  do  justice  to  his  feelings  of  grateful  at- 
tachment to  his  adopted  country  and  to  his  native 
land.'" 

Mr.  Osgood,  in  the  letter  in  which  he  sends  me 
this  extract  from  his  Class  Oration,  says,  "  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  thought  best,  that  the  last  par- 
agraph should  be  omitted  in  the  delivery,  which  it  ac- 
cordingly was.  It  was  deemed  improper  to  allude, 
either  in  praise  or  blame,  to  any  individual  instructor 
or  officer  in  the  college.  I  take  a  mournful  satisfac- 
tion in  recurring  now  to  the  subject." 

Two  years  had  now  passed  since  Dr.  Follen  had 
entered  upon  his  professorship.  They  had  been  hal- 
cyon days,  but  they  were  already  numbered.  In 
the  November  of  1832,  he  was  called  to  the  painful 
duty  of  delivering  the  funeral  oration  at  the  death  of 

VOL.  i.  27 


314  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

his  countryman,  Dr.  Spurzheim.  We  had  known 
this  truly  good  and  great  man  but  a  short  time,  but  we 
loved  him  as  a  brother,  and  we  deeply  mourned  his 
untimely  death.  The  method  Dr.  Follen  adopted  to 
prepare  himself  to  deliver  the  eulogy  on  Spurzheim 
was  characteristic.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  ac- 
cumulation of  all  the  little  facts  in  relation  to  him  that 
he  could  by  any  means  ascertain.  When  any  thing 
was  told  him,  he  went  to  the  person  by  whom  it  was 
first  related,  to  discover  if  it  was  correctly  stated,  and 
did  not  rest  till  he  had  arrived  at  the  exact  truth. 
"I  want,"  he  said,  "to  give  a  true  picture  of  the 
man,  not  a  mere  piece  of  panegyric."  He  finished 
his  address  in  the  desk,  in  the  presence  of  the  crowd 
that  came  to  listen  to  him,  and  in  sight  of  the  mortal 
remains  of  his  deceased  countryman  and  friend. 
"  I  hope,"  he  said,  "  I  have  done  justice  to  this 
truly  great  man  ;  "  he  thought  not  of  himself. 

During  this  winter,  Dr.  Follen  delivered  a  course 
of  lectures  on  Schiller,  in  Boston.  He  had  a  large 
and  very  agreeable  audience,  and  he  had  the  great 
pleasure  of  being  the  means  of  exciting  that  interest 
in  his  favorite  poet,  which  he  thought  him  so  worthy 
to  inspire.  He  instructed  a  class  of  law  students  in 
the  civil  law,  and  wrote  an  article  upon  the  civil  law 
for  the  "  American  Quarterly  Review."  He  also 
wrote  a  review  of  Wheaton's  "  History  of  the  North- 
men." But  all  his  labors  were  rendered  arduous  to 
him  by  the  state  of  his  family.  She,  whose  highest 
pleasure  it  was  to  maintain  that  order  in  his  house  so 
essential  to  his  comfort,  to  take  care  of  his  child, 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  315 

receive  his  friends,  and  minister  to  his  few  per- 
sonal wants,  was  now  only  an  object  of  continual 
anxiety  and  care  to  him  ;  he  had  constantly  to  witness 
severe  pain,  that  he  could  do  nothing  to  relieve,  but 
which  his  presence  could  always  give  strength  to  en- 
dure. Most  of  his  lectures  on  Schiller  were  written 
while  watching  by  the  sick  bed  of  his  .wife.  He  was 
never  wearied,  never  disheartened  ;  when  all  else  was 
darkness  and  pain,  his  face  spoke  of  hope  and  return- 
ing health,  and  had  in  it  the  peace  and  joy  of  Heaven. 
Dr.  Follen  wrote  again  this  spring  to  his  father  ; 
and  this  was  the  last  letter  he  ever  wrote  to  him. 

"  Cambridge,  30th  May,  1833. 
"  DEAR  FATHER, 

"  You  will  receive  these  lines  from  one  of  my 
American  friends,  Mr.  Dewey,  a  Unitarian  clergy- 
man, who  is  going  to  Europe  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health.  He  is  a  very  excellent  and  well-informed 
man,  who  has  great  influence  here.  I  hope  he  will 
have  learned  German  enough,  by  the  time  he  reaches 
you,  to  make  himself  understood  by  you.  He  will 
give  you  exact  information  of  me  and  mine.  My 
wife  has  been  ill  during  the  greater  part  of  the  last 
winter,  and  is  now  first  convalescent.  She  sends 
affectionate  greetings  to  you,  to  our  dear  mother,  and 
all.  Her  greatest  wish  is,  that  you  could  see  your 
little  grandson,  who  is  developing  in  mind  and  body, 
in  perfect  health  ;  and  who,  when  he  is  not  running 
about  in  the  free  air,  keeps  his  mother  company  in 
the  chamber  to  which  she  is  confined. 


316  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  I  have  lately  received  intelligence  from  New 
York,  of  the  arrival  there  of  a  small  chest  containing 
linen,  which  I  shall  probably  receive  to-morrow. 
Charles  Troub  writes  me,  from  Bremen,  that  they  are 
shirts,  sent  me  by  my  mother.  I  thank  you  for  them, 
dear  mother,  very  heartily.  They  will  suit  me  better 
than  any  American  shirts  ;  for  I  am  still  as  ever, 
where  the  shirt  touches  me,  a  German.  I  hope  that 
the  little  chest  contains  letters  for  ine,  also,  for  which 
I  earnestly  long. 

"  I  have  only  time  at  present  for  these  few  lines. 
"  Your  faithful  CHARLES." 

Not  long  after  he  wrote  this  letter,  Dr.  Follen 
came  to  me  one  day  with  his  face  radiant  with  joy. 
"  I  have  got  something  to  read  to  you,"  he  said, 
"  which  you  will  like  to  hear.  A  letter  from  Ger- 
many ;  I  have  not  yet  opened  it."  He  sat  down  by 
me  to  read  it.  Soon  his  face  told  me,  that  the  letter 
contained  sad  tidings.  His  father  was  dead.  He 
loved  his  father  tenderly,  devotedly ;  and  he  always 
believed  that  he  should  see  him  again.  He  even  hoped 
that  his  father  might  come  to  this  country  to  see 
him,  and  that  he  should  have  him  under  his  own  roof. 
All  his  sorrow  at  leaving  the  home  of  his  childhood 
and  youth  revived  ;  he  wept  long  and  bitterly.  After 
some  time  he  said,  "  My  father  begins  already  to  seem 
nearer  to  me  than  he  has  since  I  left  Germany." 
From  this  moment  the  idea  of  a  greater  spiritual  near- 
ness to  his  father  seemed  to  comfort  him.  Dr.  Fol- 
len did  not  reply  to  his  mother's  letter  till  some 
weeks  afterwards. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  317 

"  Cambridge,  July  1st,  1833. 
"  Mr  BELOVED  MOTHER, 

"  The  news  of  the  death  of  my  father  came  upon 
me  unexpectedly,  and  was  unspeakably  painful,  in  the 
midst  of  heavy  apprehensions  concerning  the  failing 
health  of  my  wife.  The  separation  by  death  from 
my  first,  long  tried,  deeply  venerated,  and  beloved 
friend,  revived  the  old  grief  of  separation,  which  had 
been  buried  under  a  friendly  present ;  and  my  wounds 
bleeding  afresh  cried  out  against  the  great  enemies 
which  had  robbed  me  of  my  home,  m'y  friends,  my 
past,  and  my  future.  But  my  heart  turns  away  from 
these  hostile,  these  powerless  thoughts.  No  com- 
plaint shall  mingle  with  the  one  sorrow.  It  is  hard 
to  part  in  life,  it  is  harder  to  be  parted  in  death. 
When  the  sad  news  reaches  the  most  distant  friends, 
it  comes  swelled  with  all  the  sorrows  of  those  who 
were  nearer. 

"  How  clear  and  living  does  the  image  of  my 
father's  soul  stand  before  me.  His  penetrating  and 
comprehensive  understanding  ;  his  uprightness  and 
firmness  ;  his  glowing  justice,  aiding  the  oppressed, 
unmoved  by  the  prayers  or  power  of  the  oppressor  ; 
his  contempt  of  all  false  appearances  ;  his  self-sacri- 
ficing, untiring  sense  of  duty,  which  acknowledged 
no  superior,  regarded  no  relationship,  which  knew 
neither  friend  nor  foe,  which  kept  him  always  ready 
to  stand  before  the  highest  judgment.  Who  of  us 
does  not  remember  with  a  painful  pleasure  his  cheer- 
ful disposition,  his  wit,  his  power  of  entertaining,  his 
noble  and  truly  youthful  interest  in  the  generous  though 
27* 


318  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

imprudent  exertions  of  young  people  ;  his  childlike 
pleasure  in  children,  whom  he  attached  to  himself  by 
his  humorous  inventive  imagination,  and  gift  at  story- 
telling. 

"  Whoever  believes  with  me  in  an  immortality 
into  which  the  soul  of  every  man  transfers  its  essen- 
tial features,  and  with  continued  self-determination 
becomes  still  further  developed,  will  find  it  natural 
that,  at  my  next  emigration,  from  this  old  world  into 
that  which  is  eternally  new,  I  shall  see  my  father 
again,  and  recognise  him  by  the  inextinguishable 
features  of  his  mind.  It  is  a  consolation  for  the  poor 
and  powerless  on  earth,  that  the  injurious  power,  that 
separates  children  from  their  parents,  and  brothers 
from  sisters,  does  not  extend  to  the  promised  land, 
which  we  enter  by  faith,  even  here.  That  my  father 
preserved  the  clearness  of  his  mind,  and  the  peace  of 
his  conscience,  even  in  the  last  dark  hour,  was  the 
natural  end  of  a  life  passed  in  temperance,  in  industry, 
and  honesty.  So  gentle  a  falling  asleep  certainly  in- 
dicates a  cheerful  awaking. 

"  You  speak,  dear  mother,  of  a  letter  of  Paul's  to 
me  ;  I  have  not  received  any.  With  regard  to  his 
plan  of  emigration,  I  remark,  as  follows  ; 

"  As  a  lawyer  he  might  find  here  probably  a  con- 
siderable income,  if  he  were  perfectly  master  of  the 
English  language,  and  should  bring  with  him  a  com- 
petent knowledge  of  English  law.  Then  he  would 
require  two  years  in  order  to  turn  the  application  of 
this  to  American  affairs.  Blackstone's  '  Commen- 
taries,' of  which  there  is  a  German  translation  with 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  319 

notes,  is  the  first  and  essential  text-book  for  students 
of  English  and  American  civil  law  ;  the  public  law  is 
simple  and  soon  acquired.  For  the  rest,  it  cannot  be 
denied,  that  Paul  would  have  to  encounter  great  diffi- 
culties in  this  career,  which  yet  are  not  by  any 
means  unconquerable.  There  are  a  great  many,  and 
therefore  many  poor,  lawyers  in  this  country  ;  although 
those  who  possess  knowledge,  sound  and  quick  judg- 
ment, and  the  gift  of  public  speaking,  are  the  most 
influential  men  in  the  country.  Among  all  modes  of 
earning  a  living,  there  is  only  one  which  secures  to 
the  emigrant,  in  case  he  brings  with  him  a  small 
property,  a  certain  profit.  People  of  ability  and  up- 
right intentions  may  succeed  also  in  any  other  busi- 
ness, but  this  depends  on  many  circumstances  which 
cannot  be  foreseen.  Then  there  is  no  fixed  condi- 
tion ;  every  thing  is  in  steady  progress  and  advance- 
ment. To  me  and  my  wife,  the  coming  over  of 
Paul  and  his  family  would  be  a  long-wished  for  pleas- 
ure ;  and  he  can  of  course  count  on  every  thing  in 
our  power  to  do  for  him  as  something  certain.  Had 
not  the  increased  illness  of  my  wife  obliged  us  to  let 
our  house,  and  live  ourselves  as  boarders,  we  might 
receive  them  under  our  own  roof.  But  I  hope  that 
the  steady,  though  slow  improvement  of  my  wife  at 
present,  will  enable  us,  in  the  course  of  a  year,  to 
return  to  our  former  more  hospitable  arrangements. 

"  The  Arkansas  Territory  is  not  so  suitable  for 
German  emigrants,  as  other  western  regions,  partly 
because  the  climate  is  for  the  most  part  too  warm, 
and  especially,  because  in  this  Territory,  as  in  the 


320         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

other  Southern  States,  the  slavery  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple is  recognised  by  the  laws.  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, and  Michigan  Territory  offer  greater  advantages. 
I  cannot  say  any  thing  more  definite,  until  I  have 
some  more  exact  information  of  the  whole  plan  of 
emigration  ;  and  even  then  it  would  be  advisable,  that 
one  of  the  emigrants  should  himself  come  over  and 
make  arrangements  for  those  who  are  to  follow,  in 
which  case  I  could  probably  be  of  use  to  them,  though 
my  present  engagements  would  not  permit  a  long  ab- 
sence from  Cambridge. 

"  I  pray  you,  dear  mother,  to  give  me  information 
in  your  next  letter  of  your  situation,  and  what  ar- 
rangements you  have  made  for  yourself.  Your  letters 
have  always  given  me  the  most  circumstantial  ac- 
counts of  our  family,  and  I  depend  on  your  continu- 
ing to  write  me.  I  greet  you  and  all  friends  with 
cordial  love. 

"  Your  faithful  son,  CHARLES. 

"  My  wife  greets  you  and  all  the  family  with  hearty 
love.  My  little  Charles  is  very  well,  and  thanks  you 
as  well  as  he  can  for  the  pretty  stockings,  which  his 
grandmother  has  sent  him  from  Germany." 

Dr.  Follen  had  often  spoken  to  me  of  his  convic- 
tion of  his  father's  peculiar  love  for  him  ;  he  fondly 
cherished  this  thought ;  he  considered  it  as  an  indi- 
vidual personal  friendship  for  him  growing  out  of  a 
peculiar  intimacy  ;  his  father  was  incapable  of  unjust 
partiality.  His  mother,  in  a  letter  I  have  lately  re- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  321 

ceived  from  her,  says,  speaking  of  Charles,  "  Well 
was  it  for  his  loving  father  that  he  went  before  him, 
and  did  not  survive  the  pain  of  losing  his  dearest 
child.  Indifferent  to  every  thing  at  the  latter  period 
of  his  life,  Charles,  and  only  Charles,  was  still  the  sub- 
ject of  his  discourse  with  us.  They  are  united  for 
ever.  Ah,  he  must  have  felt  joy  in  Heaven  when  this 
spirit  ascended  to  him." 

I  give  in  this  place  a  few  extracts  from  the  letters 
of  Dr.  Follen's  father  to  him. 

"  Friedberg,  March  20th,  1825. 
"  Mr  DEAREST  CHARLES, 

"  The  first  news  of  your  departure  from  the  old 
world,  as  it  was  entirely  unexpected,  almost  over- 
whelmed me  ;  but  you  had  been  for  so  long  a  time  a 
declared  traitor,  that  you  were  exposed  to  all  kinds  of 
persecution,  until  you  were  beyond  their  reach.  God 
be  praised,  therefore,  that  you  have  escaped  from  a 
part  of  the  world  where  your  opinion  is  a  crime,  and 
are  gone  to  one  where  different  ideas  of  right  are  en- 
tertained. Let  us  rejoice,  then,  you  are  in  America. 
We  here  are  well,  but  1  have  lost  so  much  of  my  in- 
come, that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  do  much  for  you. 
There  is,  however,  according  to  your  letter  of  Jan- 
uary 13th,  no  nee'd  of  haste,  and  I  hope,  after  some 
time,  to  be  able  to  do  something  for  you.  On  the 
llth  of  last  May,  I  sent  one  hundred  and  fifty  florins 
to  you  by  the  mail.  Farewell,  and  write  us  some- 
times, FOLLENIUS," 


322         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

"  Friedberg,  November  5th,  1825. 
"  About  a  week  ago  I  entered  ray  sixty-seventh 
year  ;  I  share  fairly  with  others.  I  read  and  write 
without  spectacles,  or  difficulty,  and,  as  now,  by  candle 
light ;  and  you  need  not,  therefore,  consider  me  as  yet 
superannuated.  I  flatter  myself,  therefore,  even  if  it 
should  not  take  place  soon  (and  I  conjure  you  not  to 
attempt  it  till  you  can  with  perfect  safety),  that  I  may 
see  again  my  best  and  dearest  friend.  If  it  cannot 
be  in  this  world,  which  would  be  transient,  then  I 
shall  greet  you  in  the  other  when  you  come  after  me, 
and  then  I  hope  we  shall  remain  united.  Your  loving 
father,  FOLLENIUS." 

"  Friedberg,  February  25th,  1826. 
"  I  hear  that  you  have  in  the  new  world  gained  a 
firmer  footing  than  in  the  old.  You  should  no  longer 
withhold  from  us  the  particulars.  Take  care  to  be- 
come rich,  and  then  invite  us.  The  expenses  of  our 
journey  we  will  bear,  which  not  every  one  does  who 
migrates  from  one  world  to  the  other.  I  am  your 
truest  friend  in  this  world,  and  shall  remain  so  in  the 
other  also.  FOLLENIUS." 

"Friedberg,  March  11th,  1827. 
u  Your  letter  of  the  19th  of  December  last,  arrived 
here  the  6th  of  this  month.     Beware,  before  you  are 
firmly  established,  of  making  a  visit  to  your  native 

country,  because  a  letter  from  A to  us  has  been 

opened,  and  the   seal   pressed  down   again   with   the 
thumb,  and  because  you  have  been  publicly  declared 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN,  323 

a  traitor.  One  thrives  in  freedom,  but  not  in  a  pris- 
on. We  commend  you,  therefore,  to  God.  We  go 
from  here  to  Darmstadt  before  four  weeks  pass  ;  for 
I  have  asked  for  my  dismission,  and  separated  myself 
entirely  from  Giessen.  I  stand  in  relations  which  en- 
danger my  remaining  small  property,  and  your  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  who  are  of  age,  have  already  re- 
nounced their  claim  of  inheritance.  You  will  do  the 
same,  and  send  me  the  proper  document.  As  to  the 
rest,  I  am  your  father.  I  have  lost  all  power  of  mo- 
tion, so  that  for  half  a  year  I  have  not  left  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  house.  I  can  scrape  together  the 
means  of  the  journey  to  you,  but  you  will  have  to 
take  care  of  the  necessary  support  on  the  spot.  Is 
this  possible  ?  The  longing  after  you  is  not  confined 
to  me,  but  extends  to  my  wife  and  Augusta.  Let 
them,  therefore,  be  thought  of  as  I  am.  Farewell. 

"  Your  father." 

"  Bessungen,  July  28th,  1829. 

"  We  see,  in  the  '  Morgenblatt,'  that  you  have  aban- 
doned the  law,  and  studied  theology  with  great  zeal. 
Augustus  had  written,  that  you  are  happily  married. 
We  are  very  glad  to  have  now  received  news  from 
yourself,  though  more  than  a  year  old.  You  have 
not  asked  my  consent  to  your  marriage  ;  I  correct 
your  omission  by  my  fatherly  approbation,  and  enjoin 
upon  you,  as  a  filial  duty,  to  give  our  cordial  love  to 
your  wife,  and  assure  her  of  a  friendly  reception  into 
our  high  family. 

"  However  disinclined  I  am  to  travel,  yet  I  should 


324         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

come  to  meet  you  with  my  wife,  if  I  could  bring  it 
about,  in  this  new  world.  I  consider  it  dangerous  for 
you  to  come  to  us.  This  is  hard,  because  I  have  no 
one  in  the  old  or  new  world,  who  is  so  dear  a  friend 
to  me  as  you.  Be  committed  to  the  care  of  God, 
my  dear  Charles.  FOLLENIUS." 

"  Heppenheim,  August  25th,  1830. 
"  That  your  letter  of  many  dates,  so  precious  to 
us,  has  not  been  answered,  although  it  arrived  in 
March,  is  owing  to  my  reluctance  to  write.  Your 
letter  of  April  12th,  which  arrived  to-day,  announces 
happy  news.  Your  little  son  is  standing  in  grace  (as 
the  old  soldiers  in  Giessen,  who  receive  no  pay,  say), 
but  gets  nothing  ;  it  is  merely  a  matter  of  honor.  "We 
moved  six  weeks  ago,  and  are  well,  and  well  pleased. 
In  Darmstadt  none  can  be  found  who  will  paint  my  pic- 
ture ;  they  fear  the  displeasure  of  Mr.  Van  A , 

because  they  consider  me  a  poor  orphan,  a  dema- 
gogue.* In  October  I  shall  be  seventy  years  old, 
and,  as  some  admonitions  have  preceded,  I  wish  that, 
on  account  of  what  I  may  leave,  there  may  be  no 
legal  difficulties.  Augustus  and  Paul  have  renounced 
their  claim,  and  you  will  send  me  your  renunciation, 
as  you  know  that  I  defraud  no  one,  and,  least  of  all, 
you.  Farewell,  with  your  worthy  wife. 

"  FOLLENIUS." 

"  Your    letter,    which    arrived    to-day,     dearest 

*  This  was  said  in  mere  sport;  he  was  never  willing  to  have  his 
picture  taken. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  325 

Charles,  in  which  you  announce  that  the  highest  and 
most  blessed  joys  of  a  father  are  yours,  has  caused 
us  great  happiness.  The  beautiful  hair,  which  is  as 
soft  as  silk,  shall  be  secured  in  a  frame,  and  be  put 
under  glass,  and  be  the  ornament  of  our  parlour. 

"  Your  faithful  Mother,  L.  F." 

The  physician  had  said,  that  I  must  travel,  and  that 
I  must  not  return  to  the  cares  of  housekeeping.  It 
was  necessary,  as  Dr.  Follen  mentions  in  his  letter 
to  his  mother,  that  our  house  should  be  let.  He 
had  to  take  down  his  books  from  their  shelves  in  his 
pleasant  study,  to  bid  farewell  to  his  comfortable 
house,  his  nice  garden,  his  beautiful  home  ;  to  leave 
all  his  duties  in  Cambridge,  and  put  another  person 
in  his  place.  We  had  to  part  with  the  young  friends 
who  had  boarded  with  us,  and  with  my  sisters,  and  set 
out  in  pursuit  of  an  object  so  uncertain  as  the  restora- 
tion of  my  health.  All  this  he  did  with  an  unfailing 
cheerfulness.  He  never  uttered  a  regret.  Then  I 
began  Tilly  to  comprehend  the  heights  and  depths  of 
his  disinterestedness  ;  self  seemed  to  be  the  only 
thing  he  never  thought  of. 

One  friend,  who  heard  that  the  physician  had  said, 
that  I  must  travel,  and  who  knew  that  my  husband 
could  not  afford  such  an  expense,  sent  us  a  horse  ; 
and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Channing  invited  us  to  come  im- 
mediately to  their  house  at  Newport.  These  acts  of 
kindness  made  a  deeper  impression  on  his  mind  than 
all  his  personal  privations.  He  carried  me  in  his 
arms  out  of  our  pleasant  house,  for  I  could  not  Walk 

VOL.  i.  28 


326  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

without  great  difficulty,  and  said,  with  a  smile  on  his 
face  as  we  drove  off,  "  I  shall  bring  you  home  well, 
and  some  time  or  other  we  shall  all  come  back  again 
to  our  own  house." 

Dr.  Follen  never  allowed  himself  to  dwell  upon 
the  past.  The  present  with  its  duties,  and  the  future 
with  its  hopes,  he  would  say,  are  all  we  have  to  do 
with.  His  mind  immediately  fixed  upon  the  pleas- 
ures and  advantages  of  ihe  intimate  intercourse  we 
should  enjoy  with  the  dear  friends  we  were  going 
to  visit ;  and  no  one,  who  had  seen  him  when  he 
was  leaving  his  house,  that  was  soon  to  go  into 
the  hands  of  strangers,  would  have  suspected  that 
he  was  suffering  under  any  evil,  or  making  any  sac- 
rifice. We  had  not  gone  far,  before  his  spirits  be- 
gan to  rise  as  if  he  already  enjoyed  the  success  of 
his  efforts.  In  spite  of  the  depressive  nature  of 
my  disease,  even  I  began  to  hope.  Despondency 
could  not  live  in  his  presence.  He  was  right;  my 
health  improved.  The  hours  we  passed  that  sum- 
mer with  our  friends  were  among  the  happiest  of  our 
lives.  It  was  one  of  our  pleasures,  in  after  times,  to 
talk  of  them.  After  a  visit  of  a  few  weeks,  I  was 
much  stronger,  and  we  took  lodgings  in  Newport,  not 
far  from  Dr.  Channing's  residence. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


Letter  to  Mr.  McKay. —  Correspondence  with  Dr.  Bowring.  —  He 
returns  to  Cambridge.  —  Joins  the  Anti-Slavery  Society.  — 
The  Corporation  decline  continuing  his  Professorship.  —  Plan 
of  "  The  Boston  Seminary." — Letters  to  Mr.  Dana. 

WHILE  we  were  at  Dr.  Channing's,  Dr.  Follen 
supplied  the  pulpit  at  Fall  River,  a  town  about  fifteen 
miles  distant  from  Newport.  One  Sunday,  a  violent 
thunderstorm  commenced  just  as  it  was  time  for  him 
to  set  off  on  his  return.  A  part  of  the  road  was 
unsafe  in  the  dark.  The  cloud  was  near  ;  the  danger 
was  great.  The  hour  came  for  him  to  return,  but  he 
did  not  come.  We  knew  from  the  sound,  that  the 
lightning  had  struck  not  far  from  us  ;  it  was  a  terrible 
storm.  I  knew  he  was  out  in  it  all.  My  friends  said 
he  would  not  come  in  such  weather.  I  knew  he 
would  ;  for  I  knew  he  would  not  think  of  danger  to 
himself  when  others  were  suffering.  After  many  long 
hours  of  agonizing  anxiety,  when  it  was  near  mid- 
night, we  heard  his  horse's  feet,  and  he  came  in  all 
unhurt,  and  with  an  expression  in  his  face,  that  seemed 
to  set  all  storms  at  defiance.  "Why  did  you  come 
through  such  a  terrible  storm  ? "  I  said.  "  I  feared," 
he  replied,  "that  you  would  think  something  had 
happened  to  me,  if  you  did  not  see  me."  His  friends 


328         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

had  urged  him  not  to  come.  There  was  a  narrow 
causeway  to  pass,  with  deep  water  on  both  sides  of  it. 
The  lightning  was  tremendous  ;  a  number  of  people 
were  struck.  He  had  missed  his  way,  for  he  only 
saw  by  the  lightning  flashes  ;  it  was  a  great  dan- 
ger that  he  was  in.  He  thought  afterwards  he  had 
done  wrong,  and  said,  he  should  not  do  such  a  thing 
again  ;  but  at  the  time  he  only  thought  of  those  he 
had  left  behind  him,  and  of  their  actual  suffering  from 
anxiety.  1  have  related  this,  to  show  his  habit  of 
thinking  only  of  others. 

In  September  we  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  we 
passed  a  month  at  my  brother's  house.  Here  Dr. 
Follen  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  some  very  in- 
teresting men,  whom  he  had  formerly  met  in  this  city 
upon  his  first  arrival  in  the  country  ;  and  here  be  also 
formed  some  new  and  valuable  friendships.  He  did 
not  attempt  to  write  ;  he  gave  himself  up  to  society, 
and  enjoyed  it  highly.  While  we  were  at  Philadel- 
phia, he  heard  of  the  very  sudden  death  of  the  wife 
of  one  of  his  friends.  He  immediately  wrote  to  him. 
Sad  experience  has  given  me  the  right  to  speak  of 
the  irresistible  power  of  this  letter.  When  I  first 
made  the  attempt  to  commence  my  holy  task  of  ar- 
ranging my  husband's  papers,  the  copy  of  this  letter, 
by  his  own  hand,  was  the  first  I  opened.  Through 
this  he  seemed  to  speak  to  me,  and  through  it  I  gath- 
ered strength  to  live  and  to  act.  I  feel  it  would  be 
wrong  not  to  communicate  it  for  the  sake  of  those, 
who  may  be  so  unhappy  as  to  stand  in  need  of  the 
consolation  it  offers. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  329 

"Philadelphia,  October  2d,  1832. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  It  is  but  lately,  while  on  a  journey  with  Mrs. 
Follen,  who  is  recovering  from  protracted  illness,  that 

I  have  heard  through  Mr.  G.  T ,  of  the  great  loss 

you  have  suffered.  And,  young  as  our  acquaintance 
is,  you  will  not  misprize  the  motive  that  makes  me 
wish  to  date  the  beginning  of  my  correspondence  from 
an  event,  which  will  ever  be  to  you  as  sacred  as  it  is 
painful. 

"  I  know  that  words  can  do  little  to  express,  and 
that  even  the  warmest  sympathy  of  another  is  too 
poor  to  give,  what  a  heart  deprived  of  its  best  treas- 
ure most  intensely  longs  for.  The  loss  of  our  dear- 
est friends  leaves  us  homeless  in  a  deep  solitude. 
Still,  to  the  lonely  spirit,  even  the  unknown  accents 
of  a  stranger  may  seem  like  the  voice  of  a  familiar 
friend,  and  may  do  something  toward  making  us  sen- 
sible of  what  still  remains  to  us  of  enduring  posses- 
sion and  inspiring  hope.  I  would  not,  even  if  I  had 
time  or  power  to  make  the  attempt,  say  any  thing 
with  a  view  to  render  your  sorrow  less  lasting.  It  is 
the  enduring  nature  of  true  sorrow,  that  forms  the 
connexion  between  time  and  eternity  ;  it  is  the  bur- 
den of  its  divine  appointment  to  induce  us  to  seek  in 
heaven,  that  which  we  have  lost  on  earth.  True 
sympathy  with  those,  who  have  been  called  upon  to 
sorrow,  does  not  lead  us  to  advise  the  afflicted  to 
drown  in  pursuits  of  pleasure  or  in  worldly  occupa- 
tion the  burning  pain  ;  but  rather  to  keep  it  holy,  and 
to  cherish  it  as  a  purifying  flame,  ascending  from  the 
28* 


330  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

altar  within.  All  we  can  do  and  ought  to  do,  is  to 
confine  our  regret  to  its  legitimate  ground.  The  first 
surprise  of  overwhelming  pain  makes  us  look  upon 
that  as  a  loss,  an  absolute,  irretrievable  loss,  which  a 
more  mature  reflection  on  the  real  cause  of  our  sor- 
row shows  us  to  be  a  separation,  a  temporary  priva- 
tion, kindly  intended  to  prepare  us  for  the  greater 
bliss  of  reunion  for  all  eternity. 

"  We  shall  return  to  Cambridge  in  the  course  of  a 
week,  and  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  receive  from  you, 
as  soon  as  you  feel  disposed,  some  lines  giving  me  an 
account  of  the  progress  of  the  cause  of  truth  and  free- 
dom in  your  part  of  the  country. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

During  his  visit  to  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Follen  also 
wrote  a  letter  to  Dr.  Bowring,  which  he  has  been  so 
kind  as  to  send  me,  with  that  which  he  wrote  to  him 
when  he  sent  him  a  copy  of  his  Eulogy  of  Spurzheim. 
Some  passages  from  this  correspondence  may  be  inter- 
esting. Dr.  Follen's  first  letter,  to  which  Dr.  Bow- 
ring  alludes  in  his,  is  missing. 

"Paris,  January  lOfA,  1832. 
"  Mr  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  been  absent  from  London  about  two 
months,  and  it  is  here  that  I  receive  your  kind  letter. 
It  is  doubly  interesting  by  its  reference  to  your  exer- 
tions and  your  trials  in  the  past,  and  to  your  increas- 
ing usefulness  for  the  future.  Perhaps  despotism  has 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  331 

done  no  greater  service  to  mankind  than  by  its  per- 
secutions. A  man  must  have  created  around  him  a 
circle  impregnated  with  a  spirit  like  his  own,  before 
he  excites  the  attention,  or  alarms  the  fears,  of  those 
who  hate  improvement.  They  drive  him  forth,  in- 
structed and  strengthened  by  the  waters  of  suffering, 
to  proselytize  anew  in  some  other  sphere  ;  adding  to 
his  power  all  the  interest  and  sympathy,  which  dwell 
around  the  martyr.  And,  Sir,  we  have  the  consola- 
tion of  knowing,  —  we  who  are  upon  the  stream,  and 
have  been  shaken  by  the  winds  and  the  waves,  —  that 
the  mighty  tide  of  tendency  rolls  on,  —  rolls  on,  and 
mightier  still  ;  and  that  it  can  no  more  be  turned 
backward  by  fraud  or  force,  than  can  Niagara  by  a  lie 
or  a  bayonet. 

"  On  my  return  to  London,  in  a  few  days,  I  shall 
read,  and,  I  have  no  doubt,  with  much  delight  and 
instruction,  the  books  you  are  so  kind  as  to  send  me. 
I  beg  to  assure  you,  that  I  shall  deem  it  a  privilege 
to  be  favored  with  your  correspondence,  and  to  be 
made  in  any  way  useful  to  you.  I  like,  whenever  I 
can,  to  add  another  link  to  the  chain  of  friendly  affec- 
tions, and  especially  a  transatlantic  one.  For  we  are 
greatly  delighted  to  turn,  —  we,  I  mean,  whose  broth- 
erism  is  stronger  than  our  patriotism,  and  whose  phi- 
lanthropy warmer  than  our  nationality,  —  to  turn  from 
this  old  world  of  wrongs,  and  doubt,  and  strife,  and 
despotism,  to  your  young  garden  of  prosperity  and 
liberty,  whose  plants  are  so  strong,  and  so  green,  and 
so  hopeful,  promising  flowers  and  fruits  the  fairest 
that  mortal  culture  dares  anticipate. 


332  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Pray  recall  me,  and  most  affectionately,  to  the 
remembrance  of  Dr.  Channing  and  Mr.  H.  Ware. 
Send  us  to  Europe  abundant  supplies  of  such  Amer- 
icanisms. Believe  me,  my  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"JOHN    BOWRING. 

"DR.  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

"  Cambridge,  December  3lst,  1832. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  a  young  friend  of 
mine,  Mr.  D ,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  is  desir- 
ous of  the  honor  of  your  acquaintance.  He  is  going 
to  spend  some  years  in  Europe,  to  gain  information 
of  interesting  men,  institutions,  and  manners,  in  order 
to  prepare  himself  for  greater  usefulness  in  his  native 
land.  Any  advice  you  may  give  him  to  aid  him  in 
his  generous  pursuit,  will  be  gratefully  received  by 
him,  and  acknowledged  by  me  as  a  favor. 

u  Mr.  D will  hand  you  a  copy  of  my  Eulogy 

of  the  late  Dr.  Spurzheim,  which  I  beg  you  to  ac- 
cept. You  will  see  that  my  chief  aim  in  this  per- 
formance has  been,  to  record  what  I  knew  of  his  life 
and  character,  which,  considering  the  short  time  I 
had  for  preparation,  must  be  very  defective,  particu- 
larly with  regard  to  his  history  previous  to  his  coming 
over  to  this  country.  Whether  his  peculiar  doctrines 
have  made  or  will  make  many  converts,  is  a  matter 
of  doubt.  But  his  active  mind  has  given  a  new  im- 
pulse to  philosophical  observation  in  this  country, 
which  cannot  but  prove  beneficial ;  and  his  character 


. 

LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  333 

and  manners  have  called  forth,  not  only  a  strong  per- 
sonal regard  and  friendship  for  him,  but  more  en- 
larged feelings  of  philanthropy  like  his  own. 

"You  have  probably  received  before  this  time  the 
new  volume  of  sermons,  which  our  friend,  Dr.  Chan- 
ning,  has  given  to  the  world.  Sickness  has  prevent- 
ed him  from  giving  to  this  volume  that  finish,  by  which 
his  other  works  are  distinguished  ;  yet  there  are  ma- 
ny, who  will  enjoy  with  us  the  music  of  the  celes- 
tial spheres,  that  revolve  in  his  creative  mind.  His 
health  is  now  so  far  restored,  that  he  converses  free- 
ly and  writes.  But  I  doubt  whether  it  will  ever  be 
safe  for  him  to  preach. 

"  The  political  prospects  of  the  country  are  some- 
what clouded.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  the  good 
sense  of  the  people  will  set  to  rights  the  disorder, 
and  banish  the  demon  of  misrule,  which  the  selfish 
interests  of  the  favored  sons  of  society,  and  their 
representatives  in  the  general  government,  have  con- 
jured up.  But  if,  against  my  expectations,  the  pres- 
ent struggle  should  end  in  disunion  and  civil  war, 
you  may  be  sure  that  such  a  result  would  be  owing, 
not  to  the  republican  state  of  the  country,  but  to  the 
aristocratic  element,  the  leaven  of  inequality,  which 
still  exists  in  every  member  of  this  body  politic,  and 
wars  against  the  spirit  of  freedom.  Indeed,  the  ex- 
perience of  every  day  shows  us,  that  a  republic  se- 
cures blessings  to  mankind  only  so  far  as  it  actually 
exists  ;  I  mean,  so  far  as  it  really  acknowledges  the 
equal  rights  of  every  individual.  There  are  many  in 
the  country,  who  value  the  union  of  the  States  above 


334  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

every  thing,  higher  even  than  the  individual  rights, 
the  protection  of  which  is  the  only  lawful  ground  of 
its  existence.  This  overrating  of  the  union  proceeds 
in  some  from  an  honest  superstition,  (something  like 
a  cidevant  European  feeling  of  awe  at  the  mysterious 
nature  of  kings,)  which  makes  them  shrink  from  cal- 
culating the  value  of  the  union. 

"  I  have  but  just  room  left  to  turn  from  those 
among  whom  there  is  strife,  which  of  them  should  be 
accounted  the  '  greatest,'  to  the  little  ones  that  are 
placed  in  the  midst  of  them.  My  wife  begs  you  to 
accept  the  volume  of  '  Little  Songs,'  that  has  just  is- 
sued from  the  press,  and  joins  me  in  the  expression 
of  sincere  regard,  with  which 

"  I  am  your  friend  and  servant, 

"C.  FOLLEN. 
"DR.  JOHN  BOWRING." 

"Bordeaux,  April  Sth,  1833. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Your  kind  letter  of  the  last  day  of  the  last  year 
found  me  thus  far  from  home,  and  thus  far  removed 

from  the  power  of  giving  that  welcome  to  Mr.  D , 

which  will  always  wait  upon  any  friend  of  yours, 
whom  you  will  oblige  me  by  recommending  to  my 
attention. 

"  I  had  seen,  and  had  read  with  pleasure,  your  well 
deserved  Eulogium  on  our  common  friend,  Spurz- 
heirn.  The  Fiat  observatio  was,  as  you  truly  say, 
his  maxim  ;  and,  though  I  cannot  but  think  his  enthu- 
siasm led  him  into  fanciful  regions,  it  is  most  certain, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN.         335 

that  he  threw  streams  of  light  upon  phrenological 
anatomy,  and  associated  his  contributions  to  science 
with  a  beneficent  philanthropy.  Both  in  France  and 
England  your  pamphlet  has  been  much  read.  Dr. 
Spurzheim  had  established  a  sort  of  culte,  and  his 
worshippers  had  made  it  a  part  of  their  religion  to  call 
attention  to  the  praises  of  which  he  was  the  object. 
By  his  intimate  friends  he  was  loved,  passionately 
loved  ;  by  a  large  circle  of  acquaintances,  greatly 
honored.  His  letters  from  the  United  States  are 
eminently  interesting,  particularly  as  they  describe 
the  opening  of  what  he  deemed  a  vast  field  of  interest 
and  usefulness.  At  first  he  seems  to  have  been  per- 
plexed and  troubled  at  his  prospects  ;  gradually  the 
atmosphere  cleared  around  him,  and  he  anticipated  for 
himself  a  glorious  destiny  in  your  land. 

"  I  rejoice  to  hear  that  Dr.  Channing's  health  is 
mending  ;  he  is  one  of  those  men  whose  mind  is  hung 
upon  heaven  with  golden  cords,  and  whose  thoughts 
vibrate  between  what  is  pure  below  and  sublime  above. 
You  will  see,  by  the  enclosed,  something  of  my  doings 
here.  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  JOHN  BOWRING. 

"  DR.  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


"  Philadelphia,  October  1(M,  1833. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"I  beg  leave  to  introduce  to  your  acquaintance 
Mr.  P.  N  -  ,  a  gentleman  of  Philadelphia,  with 
whom  I  have  become  acquainted  during  a  short  resi- 
dence in  this  city.  He  will  prove  to  you  a  very  in- 


336  L.IFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

teresting  acquaintance,  on  account  of  the  information 
he  is  able  to  give  concerning  the  state  of  things  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic  ;  and  particularly  on  account 
of  the  warm  interest  and  active  part  he  has  taken  in 
the  great  question  of  free  trade,  which  still  agitates 
and  divides  the  country. 

"  You  have  learned  from  the  public  prints  how  the 
contest  between  free  trade  and  restriction,  which 
threatened  the  union  of  these  States,  has  been  settled 
in  favor  of  freedom.  The  success  of  the  Carolina 
cause,  though  carried  forward  with  too  much  violence, 
is  a  valuable  evidence  of  the  moral  power  of  a  mi- 
nority, taking  their  stand  on  principles  of  justice, 
against  the  encroachments  of  a  majority.  The  hasty 
investment  of  large  sums  in  institutions  which  requir- 
ed for  their  support  the  constant  abuse  of  legislative 
power,  has  prompted  the  capitalists,  and  their  agents, 
the  politicians,  to  endeavour  to  change  the  primitive 
political  creed  of  the  country,  of  which  free  trade 
was  an  essential  article.  Many  are  now  recovering 
from  the  delusion,  which  was  induced  in  a  great  meas- 
ure by  the  magic  spell  of  specious  names,  such  as 
'the  American  system,'  'the  patriotic  principle,'  &c. 
Still,  it  is  astonishing,  as  well  as  lamentable,  to  observe 
how  few,  among  the  advocates  of  those  simple  demon- 
strations of  political  economy,  hold  them  on  a  gen- 
eral ground,  as  principles  of  philanthropic  justice 
and  practical  Christianity,  applied  to  the  international 
intercourse  of  men.  Look  at  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  itself,  the  devoted  champion  of  free  trade, 
being  at  the  same  time  the  most  determined  and  im- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  337 

placable  supporter  of  slavery.  On  the  other  hand,  in 
the  Northern  States,  where  slavery  does  not  exist, 
you  find,  at  least  among  the  higher  classes,  so  called, 
that  by  far  the  greater  number  sympathize  with  the 
vested  interest  of  the  slave-holder,  infinitely  more 
than  with  the  friendless  victim  of  sacrilegious  force, 
the  wretched  slave. 

"  There  is  in  the  North  of  this  country  a  decided 
and  even  persecuting  opposition  to  the  honest  anti- 
slavery  efforts  of  a  few  martyr  spirits.  But  there  is 
a  strong  hope,  that  the  glorious  example  of  Great 
Britain  will  force  the  impious  or  deluded  majority  of 
the  Southern  freemen  to  carry  into  execution  the  first 
article  of  the  '  Declaration  of  American  Indepen- 
dence,' that  '  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal.'  During 
my  seven  years'  residence  in  this  country,  I  have 
found  but  two  eminent  men,  who,  for  the  sake  of 
gaining  the  cooperation  of  others  for  one  good  ob- 
ject, will  not  at  least  connive  at  their  alliance  with  the 
evil  in  some  other  shape.  I  mean  our  friend  Dr. 
Channing,  and  the  editor  and  commentator  of  Say, 
Mr.  Clement  C.  Biddle.  It  is  happy  for  the  people, 
that  their  freedom  does  not  depend  on  their  obtrusive 
leaders,  but  on  the  deep  sense  of  their  own  happiness. 
We  are  expecting  eagerly  your  edition  of  Bentham's 
'  Science  of  Morality.'  I  have  lately  passed,  with 
my  family,  three  very  happy  weeks  under  the  hospi- 
table roof  of  Dr.  Channing,  in  Rhode  Island.  The 
island  is  his  birthplace,  and  all  the  native  powers  and 
graces  of  his  mind  seem  to  flow  more  unconsciously 
and  freely  in  that  beautiful  spot,  endeared  to  him  by  the 

VOL.  i.  29 


338  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

pleasing  mystery  of  early  recollections.  He  thinks 
of  you  with  great  and  affectionate  interest.  I  shall 
soon  return  to  the  duties  of  my  office  in  Cambridge. 
Whenever  you  can  make  use  of  my  residence  in  this 
country,  or  whenever  you  can  spare  some  minutes,  I 
shall  be  highly  pleased  to  receive  some  lines  assuring 
me  of  the  continuance  of  your  kind  feelings  towards 
your  friend  and  servant,  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"DR.  JOHN  BOWRING." 

"  Paris,  August  9«A,  1834. 
"Mr  DEAR  SIR, 

#  #  *  *  # 

"  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  way  you  speak  of  the 
slavery  question.  It  is,  it  is  indeed,  the  opprobrium 
of  the  United  States.  There  is  no  escape  from  the 
palpable,  the  prominent,  the  pestiferous  fact,  that 
human  beings  are  bought  and  sold  by  men  who  call 
themselves  republicans  and  Christians.  It  is  thrown 
in  our  teeth,  it  is  slapped  in  our  faces,  it  is  branded 
on  our  souls,  when  we  talk  of  your  country,  and  hold 
up  your  institutions  to  admiration  and  imitation.  You 
must,  indeed,  labor  night  and  day,  at  sun-rising  and 
sun-setting,  at  home  and  abroad,  with  the  influential 
above,  with  the  influential  below  you  ;  you  must,  in- 
deed, get  rid  of  the  infirmities  of  your  commonwealth. 
Believe  me  dear  Sir, 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  JOHN  BOWRING. 
"DR.  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN.          339 

Soon  after,  we  returned  to  our  lodgings  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  Dr.  Pollen  resumed  his  place  in  the  Col- 
lege ;  my  health  was  so  far  restored,  that  I  ceased  to  be 
a  source  of  anxiety  to  my  friends,  and  was  able  to  re- 
turn to  my  customary  duties.  All  pecuniary  affairs 
were  particularly  disagreeable  to  Dr.  Follen,  and  I 
was  now  able  to  relieve  him  from  these,  and  many  other 
cares.  My  illness  had  been  the  cause  of  great  ex- 
pense. He  had  been  obliged  to  pay  some  one  to  take 
his  place  in  the  College,  while  he  travelled  with  me. 
We  had  found  it  necessary  to  borrow  money  to  pay 
for  building  our  house,  and  we  now  found  our- 
selves in  debt,  and  could  not  see  how,  with  Dr.  Fol- 
len's  small  salary,  we  should  pay  it,  without  sacrificing 
the  only  property  from  which  we  derived  any  income. 

This  state  of  things  gave  him  great  uneasiness  ; 
he  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  owing  any  man 
money.  I  assured  him,  that  by  a  strict  economy  we 
could  in  time  pay  off  all  our  debts.  I  was  now  more 
hopeful  than  he  ;  he  tried  to  rely  upon  my  faith,  and 
to  banish  all  anxiety.  But  he  began  to  feel  the  great 
importance  of  being  assured  that  his  professorship 
should  be  continued  and  made  permanent  by  the 
corporation,  or  that  some  other  place  in  the  College 
should  be  given  him.  One  of  the  Corporation  in  a 
letter  to  his  brother-in-law,  had  expressed  his  hope 
that  it  would  be  made  permanent,  and  Dr.  Follen's 
trustful  nature  led  him  to  believe  that  it  would  be  ; 
still  he  had  no  absolute  promise,  and  this  at  times  dis- 
tressed him  ;  but  it  was  only  for  a  moment ;  he  would 
often  say,  "All  will  be  right  at  last,  I  am  sure." 


340  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

We  bound  ourselves  to  the  most  rigid  economy,  and 
hoped  for  the  best.  He  gave  much  time  and  labor 
this  winter  to  an  interlinear  translation  he  was  making 
of  Luther's  version  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  He 
carefully  compared  the  whole  Gospel  with  the  original, 
and  where  he  found  any  defect  in  Luther's  translation, 
he  made  such  alteration  as  he  thought  right.  He  be- 
stowed unwearied  labor  upon  this  work,  to  make  it  as 
perfect  as  possible,  hoping  that  it  might  be  useful  to 
those  who  were  learning  German  without  a  teacher. 
It  was  during  the  summer  of  1833,  that  Dr.  Follen 
turned  his  attention  very  earnestly  to  the  writings  and 
doings  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society  that  had  then  been 
in  existence  only  one  year.  Mrs.  Childs's  "Appeal," 
which  he  had  read  while  we  were  at  Dr.  Channing's, 
produced  a  powerful  effect  upon  his  mind,  and,  some 
weeks  after  we  returned  to  Cambridge,  he  said,  one 
evening,  after  he  had  been  meditating  for  some  time,  "  I 
am  thinking  of  joining  the  Anti-slavery  Society  ;  what 
do  you  think  of  it  ?  "  "  That  you  ought  to  follow  the 
light  of  your  own  mind,"  I  replied  ;  "  why  should 
you  hesitate  ?"  "I  know  that  it  will  be  greatly  in 
the  way  of  my  worldly  interests."  "  Very  "like,"  I 
said.  "I  feel,"  he  replied,  "as  if  I  ought  to  join 
them."  "  Then  why  not  do  it  ?  "  "  It  is  a  serious 
thing  to  relinquish  my  worldly  prospects  altogether  ; 
if  I  join  the  Anti-slavery  Society,  I  shall  certainly  lose 
all  chance  of  a  permanent  place  in  College,  or  per- 
haps anywhere  else.  If  it  were  only  for  myself,  I 
should  not  be  troubled  about  it,  but  to  involve  you 
and  Charles  in  the  evils  of  real  poverty,  I  shrink  from 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  341 

that."  "  You  have,"  I  said,  "  sacrificed  your  coun- 
try, your  home,  and  all  that  makes  home  dear,  for  the 
sake  of  freedom  and  humanity  ; —  do  not  think  that  we 
are  not  worthy  and  able  to  make  the  slight  sacrifices, 
which  we  may  be  called  upon  to  make  in  this  cause." 
He  joined  the  Society,  and  he  did  so  from  a  devout 
sense  of  duty,  and  after  a  solemn  and  prayerful  con- 
sideration of  every  objection  to  so  doing.  He  knew 
that  there  were  evils  belonging  to  all  associations  ;  he 
never  vindicated  nor  approved  of  abusive  language  in 
the  Abolitionists,  any  more  than  in  their  opposers  ;  his 
nature  was  as  gentle  as  it  was  uncompromising  ;  but 
when  a  young  friend  raised  this  objection  to  joining 
the  Anti-slavery  Society ,  he  replied  to  him,  "  1  did  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  stand  aloof  from  a  society,  whose 
only  object  was  the  abolition  of  slavery." 

A  short  time  after  he  joined  the  Society,  he  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  secretary,  inviting  him  to 
make  an  address  at  the  coming  anniversary.  I  give 
his  reply. 

"  Cambridge,  December  26th,  1833. 
"  B.  C.  BACON,  ESQ. 

"DEAR    SlR, 

"  Your  letter  of  the  24th  instant,  which  I  received 
yesterday,  is  an  additional  inducement  to  me  to  attend 
the  coming  anniversary  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
slavery  Society.  The  deep  interest  I  feel  in  the 
abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  world,  has  made 
me  desirous  of  becoming  more  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  plans  and  the  proceedings  of  your  Society, 
29* 


342  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

and  for  this  reason  I  had  determined,  before  I  received 
your  letter,  to  attend  its  next  general  meeting. 

"  I  feel  truly  grateful  to  you  and  the  other  gentle- 
men of  the  committee,  for  the  confidence  you  have 
expressed  in  my  sentiments,  and  for  the  honor  you 
have  conferred  upon  me  by  desiring  my  services  on 
that  interesting  occasion.  But,  with  the  most  sincere 
desire  to  cooperate  with  you  in  this  great  and  holy 
undertaking,  my  information  on  the  subject,  particu- 
larly with  regard  to  the  peculiar  relations  of  this  coun- 
try, is  still  so  imperfect,  that  I  do  not  feel  authorized 
to  promise  beforehand  to  make  a  public  address  at 
the  first  meeting  of  the  Society  which  I  shall  attend. 
I  shall  take  great  pleasure  in  being  present  as  a 
listener,  and  a  learner,  and  a  warmly  sympathizing 
friend.  Yours  very  respectfully, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  convention  of  the  American 
Anti-slavery  Society,  in  January,  1834,  Dr.  Follen 
was  chosen  chairman  of  a  committee  to  draft  an  ad- 
dress to  the  people  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
subject  of  slavery.  The  spirit  and  style  of  this  ad- 
dress extorted  praise  even  from  the  enemies  of  the 
cause.  Copies  of  it  were  sent  to  all  the  members  of 
Congress,  and  to  all  the  men  of  distinction  at  the  South. 
One  copy  alone,  from  this  large  number,  was  returned 
to  Dr.  Follen,  with  some  insulting  words  written  on 
the  margins,  upon  the  subject  of  foreigners  throwing 
firebrands,  and  other  stereotyped  remarks  of  the  same 
sort.  About  this  time  a  very  gross  attack  was  made 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN,  343 

upon  him  in  one  of  the  Boston  papers  ;  and,  lest  he 
should  not  himself  know  of  it,  the  paper  was  sent  to 
him,  with  the  offensive  paragraph  marked  for  his  par- 
ticular notice.  "  This  cannot  to'uch  me,"  he  said, 
as  he  calmly  read  it,  "it  is  too  vulgar."  It  was  in 
the  course  of  this  year,  that  he  assisted  in  the  forma- 
tion of  an  anti-slavery  society  in  Cambridge. 

Dr.  Follen's  anxiety  with  regard  to  pecuniary 
concerns,  induced  him  this  winter  to  request  the  Presi- 
dent to  allow  him  to  instruct  in  the  College  in  some 
branch  of  learning  which  he  was  capable  of  teaching, 
and  he  particularly  mentioned  the  history  of  the  differ- 
ent systems  of  moral  philosophy  ;  this  department  was 
then  without  any  professor  ;  he  well  knew  that  the 
chair  would  never  be  rilled  by  himself;  he  only  wished, 
as  it  was  vacant,  to  be  allowed  to  give  lectures  to  the 
students  ;  but  this  was  not  thought  expedient. 

Dr.  Follen  received  repeated  warnings,  that  his  in- 
terests in  the  College  would  be  materially  injured  by 
his  devotion  to  this  hated  cause.  He  was  told,  that 
anti-slavery  would  never  be  tolerated  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity ;  but  he  did  not  on  that  account  think  it  right, 
neither  did  he  feel  disposed,  to  desert  a  cause,  which 
he  thought  of  more  importance  than  all  others,  and 
in  comparison  with  which,  the  interests  of  any  indi- 
vidual were  a  petty  concern.  "  The  question,"  he 
said,  "  is,  whether  this  is  my  duty  ;  what  will  be  the 
consequences,  is  a  secondary  matter." 

His  nature,  however,  was  so  hopeful,  that  he  al- 
ways believed,  while  he  could,  that  the  right  would 
prevail  ;  and  he  would  not,  and  did  not,  relinquish  the 


344  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

persuasion,  that  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom 
would  be  forgiven,  and  that  the  College  would  yet  re- 
tain him  in  its  service.  He  never  allowed  his  devo- 
tion to  the  anti-slavery  cause  to  interfere  with  any  of 
his  duties  in  College  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  fear  that  it 
might,  made  him,  if  possible,  more  scrupulous  than 
ever  in  the  performance  of  them  all.  Of  this,  there 
is  the  most  ample  testimony. 

In  a  little  more  than  a  year,  the  term  of  the  sub- 
scription for  the  German  Professorship  would  expire, 
and  Dr.  Follen  felt  the  importance,  in  case  it  was  not 
renewed,  of  knowing  it  in  season  to  make  some  satis- 
factory provision  for  himself  elsewhere.  The  sub- 
scription, he  well  knew,  had  been  raised  out  of  personal 
regard  to  him,  and  that  the  friends  who  contributed 
to  it  had  taken  it  for  granted,  although  there  was  no 
promise  to  that  effect,  that,  if  he  succeeded  in  inter- 
esting the  students  in  German  literature,  and  the 
public  sentiment  was  in  favor  of  the  professorship, 
the  Corporation  would  make  it  permanent,  or  assign 
him  another  place  in  the  College.  As  far  as  the  stu- 
dents were  concerned,  his  success  there  had  been 
entire,  his  classes  were  always  large,  and  his  lecture- 
room  was  well  attended.  He  knew  that  it  was  not  the 
purpose  of  his  friends  to  renew  their  subscription, 
and,  if  it  had  been,  he  would  not  have  consented  to  it ; 
he  therefore  requested  his  brother-in-law,  who  was 
the  principal  subscriber,  to  ascertain  whether  the  cor- 
poration intended  to  continue  his  professorship. 

The  question  was  asked,  and  the  answer  was,  that 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  345 

the  corporation  did  not  think  it  expedient  ;  and  no 
other  arrangement  was  proposed  by  which  he  could 
be  retained  in  the  University.  After  ten  years  of 
faithful  service  in  the  College,  he  was  left  with  five 
hundred  dollars  a  year  as  teacher  of  the  German  lan- 
guage, if  he  chose  to  remain  in  Cambridge.  This 
was  of  course  an  inadequate  support  for  himself  and 
family,  and  obliged  him  to  seek  employment  else- 
where ;  he  felt  that  this  was  intended.  Dr.  Follen 
took  this  disappointment  deeply  to  heart  ;  many  an 
anxious  hour  did  it  cause  him  ;  he  had  hoped,  to  the 
last,  that  the  Corporation  would  not  let  him  go.  His 
heart  clung  to  the  University  ;  he  loved  its  hopeful 
youth  ;  he  longed  to  be  their  benefactor.  He  earnest- 
ly desired  to  be  a  useful  servant  to  the  institution.  It 
was  true,  that  he  often  disagreed  with  some  of  its 
other  friends  in  regard  to  questions  relating  to  the 
government  of  the  College.  He  was  an  advocate  for 
a  more  enlarged  freedom  in  the  management  of  the 
University,  in  imitation  of  those  in  his  native  land. 
He  placed  great  reliance  upon  the  influence  of  a 
magnanimous  trust  in  the  young  men  ;  he  had  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  an  appeal  to  the  higher  principles  of 
our  nature.  He  wished  to  see  less  outward  govern- 
ment in  College,  and  to  induce  the  young  men  to 
govern  themselves.  He  thought  it  but  just  to  believe 
in  the  existence  of  high  and  noble  purposes  in  them, 
till  they  had  forfeited  this  trust  by  degrading  actions. 
His  sense  of  justice  saw  no  distinctions  that  were 
unquestioned,  but  the  eternal  distinctions  between 
right  and  wrong.  When  justice  was  in  question  he 


346  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   POLLEN. 

had  no  favorites,  and  knew  no  dislikes.  There  are 
many  who  knew  him,  who  will  testify  to  his  fidelity 
to  this  principle,  even  when  it  obliged  him  to  do  vio- 
lence to  his  own  strong  feelings  of  personal  friendship. 
Still  more  stern  and  unhesitating  was  he  when  his 
own  interests,  and  the  favor  of  others  towards  himself, 
were  in  question.  But  while  here,  as  everywhere,  he 
manifested  the  character  of  the  reformer,  his  purpose 
was  to  establish  right  principles,  and  thus  gradually 
overthrow  what  was  bad  in  institutions  ;  and  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  submit  to  a  law,  even  though  he  did 
not  approve  of  it,  unless  it  should  call  for  the  viola- 
tion of  the  higher  law  of  conscience. 

Beside  this  strong  interest  in  the  College,  Dr.  Fol- 
len  was  attached  to  Cambridge  as  a  place  of  resi- 
dence. The  Library  was  very  important  to  him.  We 
had  many  dear  friends  there  ;  it  was  the  place  where 
he  had  first  formed  lasting  attachments  in  this  country  ; 
it  was  the  birthplace  of  his  American  home  ;  it  was 
there  that  he  had  first  rocked  the  cradle  of  his  child  ; 
it  was  there  that  he  had  first  heard  from  him  the  dear 
name  of  father  ;  the  faces  of  its  inhabitants  were  all 
familiar,  and  the  old  trees  and  the  buildings  looked 
to  him  like  old  friends.  It  was  hard  to  seek  again  a 
new  home,  he  knew  not  where  ;  but  his  heart  was 
too  much  in  Heaven  to  be  long  depressed  by  earthly 
cares,  and  he  soon  began  to  form  plans  for  the  future  ; 
Still  onward  was  his  motto.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
he  drew  up  the  plan  of  a  new  literary  institution, 
which  he  hoped  to  establish  in  Boston.  Its  nature 
and  purpose  will  be  fully  explained  by  the  Prospec- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  347 

tus,  a  copy  of  which  will  be  found  appended  to  this 
volume.  The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Richard  Dana, 
gives  some  idea  of  his  plan. 

"  Cambridge,  September  22d,  1834. 
"DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  called  at  your  house  this  morning  to  make  to 
you  a  proposal,  which  I  should  have  liked  to  explain 
more  at  large  in  conversation  ;  but,  learning  that  you 
had  gone  to  pass  some  time  at  Newport,  1  shall  men- 
tion only  the  main  point  in  writing,  leaving  other  ques- 
tions to  be  settled  after  your  return. 

"  You  have  heard,  perhaps,  that  I  intend  to  es- 
tablish a  literary  institution,  or  college,  in  Boston  ; 
where,  according  to  all  the  information  I  have  been 
able  to  collect,  such  an  establishment  is  wanted.  It 
is  intended  to  embrace  all  the  important  branches  of 
a  general,  classical,  and  practical  education.  It  is  to 
go  into  operation  only  in  case  sixty  scholars  can  be 
obtained  for  it  by  subscription,  at  two  hundred,  or 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  for  the  year. 
If  this  number  can  be  obtained,  Mr.  Grund  will  take 
the  department  of  Mathematics  and  the  Physical  Sci- 
ences ;  Mr.  Leverett  will  take  the  Classical  depart- 
ment ;  and  I  shall  take  History,  and  Mental  and  Moral 
Philosophy,  together  with  instruction  in  German. 
The  fourth  of  the  four  principal  departments,  Eng- 
lish Literature,  Composition,  and  Eloquence,  is  yet 
a  vacant  place  in  our  plan,  which  no  one  that  I  know 
in  this  country,  is  more  competent  than  you  to  fill. 


348  LIFE    OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

"  We  mean  to  have  the  principal  modern  languages 
taught  by  natives  ;  and,  as  our  numbers  and  means 
increase,  to  employ  subordinate  instructors  in  the 
other  branches.  These  can  be  easily  found.  But  it 
is  important,  for  issuing  the  prospectus  and  ascertain- 
ing the  number  of  scholars,  that  we  should  be  sure 
of  four  competent  men  for  the  principal  departments, 
so  that  we  may  begin  next  January,  or,  at  least,  next 

A  '1 

April. 

"  Permit  me,  dear  Sir,  to  express  my  strong  de- 
sire and  earnest  hope,  that  you  will  join  us  in  an  un- 
dertaking, the  importance  of  which,  if  it  succeeds,  I 
need  not  attempt  to  set  forth. 

"  Yours  respectfully  and  truly, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

In  a  second  letter  to  Mr.  Dana,  Dr.  Follen  sends 
a  copy  of  the  prospectus  and  asks  his  opinion,  and 
urges  him  to  state  his  objections  and  make  any  sug- 
gestions. He  then  states  the  economical  part  of  the 
plan,  and  the  steps  he  has  taken  to  secure  the  inter- 
est of  the  public  in  it.  I  give  only  the  last  para- 
graphs of  this  letter. 

"  In  the  department  we  wish  you  to  take,  English 
Literature,  Composition,  and  Elocution  are  of  course 
the  essentials.  An  etymological  and  philosophical 
knowledge  of  the  English  language  is  not  to  be  had, 
I  believe,  in  any  of  our  schools  or  colleges.  Com- 
position and  elocution  are  not  made  what  they  ought 
to  be,  the  most  efficient  instrument  to  call  forth  indi- 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  349 

vidual  powers  of  mind,  to  aid  the  pupil  in  defining 
and  regulating  his. thoughts,  and  to  give  them  natural 
and  correct  expression  in  speech  and  writing.  The 
whole  arrangement  of  this  department  will,  of  course, 
belong  exclusively  to  you.  In  teaching  History,  and 
Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  I  shall  make  the  young 
men  write,  and  shall  thus  have  frequent  occasion  to 
consult  with  you,  and  perhaps  lighten  your  labors. 
If  you  should  have  time  and  inclination  to  take  the 
instruction  in  Geography,  at  least  until  we  are  able  to 
engage  an  assistant  teacher,  it  would  be  desirable  ;  as 
my  obligation  to  teach  German,  in  addition  to  Histo- 
ry, and  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  will  put  it  out 
of  my  power  to  attend  to  Geography  too. 

"  We  have  pledged  ourselves  to  give  to  instruction 
in  the  Seminary,  for  the  first  year,  six  hours  every 
day,  which  we  think  more  time  than  should,  in  the 
long  run,  be  required  of  a  teacher,  considering  the 
time  he  ought  to  give  to  preparation.  The  name 
'  Seminary'  seemed,  for  want  of  a  better,  at  least  the 
most  vague  and  harmless,  until  the  success  of  the  in- 
stitution might  enable  us  to  be  incorporated  under  a 
name  suited  to  its  character. 

"  I  agree  with  you  fully  in  your  remarks  about  con- 
fining the  power  to  those,  who  are  alone  competent 
to  employ  it,  and  having  no  one  but  the  public  to  in- 
fluence us  in  our  movements.  These  are  all  the  par- 
ticulars, dear  Sir,  that  I  can  now  think  of  as  impor- 
tant for  your  decision.  Yours  very  respectfully  and 
truly,  C.  FOLLEN. 

"September  26*A,  1834." 

VOL.  i.  30 


350  LIFE    OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

Mr.  Dana  consented  to  take  the  part  in  the  institu- 
tion, which  Dr.  Follen  so  much  desired  he  should  ; 
and  a  large  number  of  copies  of  the  plan  of  the  "  Bos- 
ton Seminary,"  as  it  was  determined  to  call  it,  were 
printed,  and  sent  to  those  individuals  in  the  city  and 
its  environs,  who,  it  was  thought,  would  be  interested 
in  such  an  undertaking.  Some  few  friends  were  san- 
guine in  their  hope  that  it  would  do  well,  and  promised 
to  send  their  sons,  and  to  give  all  the  aid  in  their 
power  ;  and  for  a  while  there  seemed  a  prospect 
that  it  would  succeed.  Dr.  Follen's  heart  was 
much  engaged  in  it.  Had  his  means  been  sufficient, 
he  would  have  commenced  the  work  with  the  few  pu- 
pils he  was  sure  of,  and  trusted  that  in  a  short  time 
the  numbers  would  increase,  and  the  Seminary 
recommend  itself  to  public  favor.  But  here  his 
poverty  held  him  back.  The  project  failed,  and 
again  he  was  disappointed. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year,  he  was  invited  to  de- 
liver the  Address  introductory  to  the  Franklin  Lec- 
tures. This  discourse  will  be  found  in  the  present 
collection  of  his  works.  He  was  much  pleased  with 
this  invitation  ;  his  sympathies  were  with  the  people, 
—  with  mankind.  It  was  his  most  earnest  wish  to  see 
the  benefits  of  education  and  knowledge  extended  to 
every  individual  of  the  community.  He  entered  up- 
on this  labor  with  a  true  delight ;  it  was  heart-work 
with  him. 

Dr.  Follen's  republicanism  was  a  reality,  as  his 
whole  life  had  manifested  ;  it  was  simply  the  result 
of  his  Christian  faith.  The  life  and  the  teachings  of 


LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  351 

Jesus  were  his  standard  and  guide  in  politics.  He 
remembered  always,  to  use  his  own  words,  "that  all 
those  unjust  pretensions,  and  cruel  distinctions,  by 
which  men  are  far  more  separated  than  by  any  dis- 
tance of  land  and  sea,  every  proud  elevation  and  every 
servile  humiliation  among  men,  must  fall  before  the 
acknowledged  equality  of  immortal  spirits."  These 
opinions  he  never  obtruded,  and  never  withheld 
when  called  upon  to  express  them. 

A  few  days  after  Dr.  Follen  had  delivered  his 
Franklin  lecture,  he  received  a  strange  letter  from 
one  of  his  hearers  ;  its  character  will  be  sufficiently 
shown  by  his  reply. 

"Cambridge,  December  6th,  1834. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Numerous  engagements  have  until  now  prevent- 
ed me  from  answering  the  anonymous  letter  I  receiv- 
ed from  you  about  a  fortnight  ago.  You  are  right  in 
supposing,  that  the  fact  of  your  being  '  a  laboring 
man,  and  possessing  a  mind  that  ardently  desires 
knowledge,'  would  be  considered  as  a  sufficient  apol- 
ogy for  addressing  me  on  a  subject,  on  which  no  man, 
who  has  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-men  at  heart, 
would  require  any  apology  to  induce  him  to  impart, 
as  far  as  his  time  is  not  preoccupied  by  other  duties, 
whatever  information  he  may  possess.  Allow  me  to 
add,  that  the  simple  mode  of  addressing  yourself  to 
me  as  a  man  to  his  fellow-man,  would  have  been 
more  grateful  to  me,  more  encouraging  to  a  sincere 
desire  to  serve  you,  than  your  consulting  me  as  a  pro- 


352  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

fessional  man.  I  confess,  that  I  cannot  reconcile  the 
apparent  incongruity,  or  refrain  from  suspecting  the 
sincerity  of  a  man's  asking  information  of  another,  as 
a  professional  man,  while  he  believes,  that  his  profes- 
sion, or  '  craft,  is  founded  upon  imagination,'  and  deals 
in  telling  'stories  of  a  false  nature,'  to  'deceive'  the 
people.  These,  you  recollect,  are  the  terms  in  which 
you  describe  the  clerical  profession. 

"  I  cannot  offer,  at  present,  to  go  with  you  over 
the  whole  ground  of  the  evidences  of  religion  and  a 
future  life.  In  order  to  do  this,  with  a  reasonable 
hope  of  success,  I  must  know  first  what  sort  of  evi- 
dence you  require  for  moral  conviction  ;  and  as,  to 
judge  from  your  letter,  I  have  not  succeeded  in  ex- 
plaining to  you  what  I  understand  by  religion,  I  must 
first  ascertain  your  idea  of  it,  as  well  as  the  doubts 
you  entertain  with  regard  to  it.  A  personal  inter- 
view would  probably  enable  me  to  do  this  within  the 
time  that  I  could  devote  to  it ;  and  if  you  should  de- 
sire some  conversation  with  me  on  this  subject,  it 
would  give  me  an  opportunity,  if  not  of  removing 
your  doubts,  at  least  of  convincing  you,  that  you  did 
me  injustice  in  supposing  me  capable  of  considering 
'  a  poor  infidel  as  unworthy  of  attention.' 

"  At  present,  I  know  not  what  better  service  I  can 
render  you,  than  that  of  frankly  telling  you  the  im- 
pression your  letter  has  made  upon  me.  To  judge 
from  it,  there  is  one  thing  which  no  other  person  can 
do  for  you,  and,  without  which,  the  assistance  of 
others  can  be  of  little  avail  to  you.  You  can  never 
come  to  a  settled  conviction,  either  of  the  truth  or 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  353 

untruth  of  religion,  unless  you  investigate  the  subject 
in  the  true  spirit  of  free  inquiry.  You  must  free 
,  your  mind  from  prejudice  against  as  well  as  for  reli- 
gion. I  am  sorry  to  say,  that  your  remarks  on  that 
part  of  my  lecture,  which  treated  of  this  subject, 
have  excited  in  me  the  apprehension,  that  you  had 
not  examined  it  with  that  freedom  and  simplicity  of 
mind,  without  which  there  is  no  safety  from  miscon- 
ception. If  you  had  raised  objections  to  any  of  my  as- 
sertions, I  should  have  been  obliged  to  you  for  any 
strictures  that  might  have  led  me  to  see  or  suspect 
the  insufficiency  of  my  argument  ;  but  you  impute  to 
me  sentiments,  which  that  whole  portion  of  my  lec- 
ture was  intended  to  refute.  "However  I  may  have 
failed  in  my  most  earnest  desire  to  convey  what  I 
thought  to  be  simple  truth,  in  the  simplest  language, 
I  cannot  explain  this  misapprehension  of  the  whole 
character  and  tendency  of  my  remarks,  in  any  other 
way  than  by  supposing,  that,  as  soon  as  the  subject 
of  religion  was  mentioned,  you  connected  with  it  all 
the  attributes  of  superstition  and  bigotry,  which  you 
thought  to  be  its  essential  features  ;  and  considered 
all  my  remarks  to  the  contrary,  either  as  unworthy  of 
attention,  or  as  intended  to  disguise  the  reality.  You 
impute  to  me  the  intention  to  '  stop  the  spirit  of  free 
inquiry,  that  is  fast  gaining  ground  among  the  work- 
ing classes,'  because  it  'attacks  the  foundation  of  the 
clerical  craft,'  because  I  fear  that  this  spirit  will  so 
enlighten  the  people  as  to  prevent  their  being  duped 
any  longer  by  stories  about  another  world,  &c. 

"  Now  it  was  a  leading  object  in  my  lecture  to  en- 
30* 


354         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

courage  free  inquiry,  to  show  that  we  cannot  come  to 
a  settled  conviction  of  religion  and  a  future  life,  un- 
less we  carry  this  principle  of  intellectual  action  to 
its  utmost  extent.  Whether  the  spirit  of  free  and 
faithful  inquiry  leads,  as  you  think,  to  unbelief,  or,  as 
I  think,  to  religion,  is  a  question  which  cannot  be  de- 
cided by  argument.  But  when  I  assert,  that  I  look 
to  free  inquiry  as  the  only  way  to  the  truth,  you  sure- 
ly have  no  right  to  impute  to  me  the  illiberal  intention 
to  stop  it. 

"  You  say,  also,  that  I  endeavoured  to  prove  the 
truth  of  religion  by  its  supposed  utility,  and  by  a 
comparison  with  astronomy.  Both  these  assertions 
are  unfounded,  as  you*will  perceive  from  a  perusal  of 
my  lecture,  when  it  is  published,  as  desired  by  the 
Committee  of  the  Society,  at  whose  request  it  was 
delivered. 

"  You  ask  me,  whether  '  I  can  show  the  least  posi- 
tive proof  of  a  future  existence.'  I  answer,  that,  to 
me,  the  external  and  internal  evidences  of  Christi- 
anity, supported  as  they  are  by  the  independent  tes- 
timony of  nature,  particularly  of  the  constitution  of 
the  human  mind,  are  sufficient  to  enable  me,  at  any 
time,  deliberately  to  lay  down  my  life  for  what  I  con- 
ceive to  be  the  true  interest  of  the  immortal  soul.  I 
believe,  that  the  innate  capacity  and  longing  of  the 
mind  for  ever-increasing  knowledge,  and  ever-extend- 
ing, self-sacrificing  benevolence,  constitute  as  sure  an 
indication  of  its  destination  for  endless  progress,  as 
the  organization  of  the  lungs  for  breathing,  the  eye  for 
seeing,  and  the  ear  for  hearing. 


/ 

LIFE   OP   CHARLES   POLLEN.  355 

tc  I  do  not  intend,  at  present,  to  enlarge  upon  these 
evidences,  but  am  willing  to  do  so  whenever  you 
show  me,  that  you  have  faithfully  examined  and  weigh- 
ed them,  and  that  you  sincerely  desire  my  assistance 
in  the  course  of  your  free  inquiry. 

"  Respectfully, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


CHAPTER    XV. 


Dr.  Follen  preaches  at  East  Lexington.  —  He  resigns  his  Office  as 
Teacher  of  the  German  Language  in  Harvard  College. — Re- 
moves to  Waterlown.  —  Takes  charge  of  some  Pupils.  — 
Letter  to  Dr.  Jackson. —  He  removes  to  Milton.  —  His  Interest 
in  the  Anti-slavery  cause.  —  Letters  to  Harriet  Martineau. 

IT  was  during  this  winter,  that  Dr.  Follen  was  re- 
quested, by  some  individuals  in  East  Lexington,  to 
preach  there,  and  assist  them  in  the  formation  of  a  re- 
ligious society  in  the  village.  Till  that  time,  there 
had  been  but  one  society  in  Lexington  ;  but  the  re- 
moteness of  the  church,  it  being  more  than  two  miles 
from  this  part  of  the  town,  made  it  impossible  for 
many  of  the  inhabitants  to  attend  public  worship  ;  and 
there  were  fifty  or  sixty  families,  that  were,  on  this 
account,  obliged  to  remain  at  home  on  Sunday,  who 
desired  to  attend  public  worship.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Briggs,  the  minister  of  the  old  church,  was  to  be  ab- 
sent for  the  winter,  and  all  the  neighbouring  clergy- 
men, whom  they  had  asked  to  preach  for  them  at  the 
village,  had  objected,  on  the  plea  that  Mr.  Briggs 
would  not  be  pleased  that  another  society  should  be 
formed  in  the  town. 

Dr.  Follen  had  preached  for  Mr.  Briggs,  and  he 


\ 

LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  357 

felt  persuaded  he  was  too  just  a  man  to  wish  to  pre- 
vent a  number  of  people,  under  such  circumstances, 
from  forming  a  religious  society,  and  enjoying  the  ad- 
vantages of  public  worship,  if  they  wished  it.  He 
thought,  too,  that  the  people  had  an  unquestioned 
right  to  decide  upon  such  a  question  for  themselves  ; 
and,  although  he  was  told  that  other  clergymen  had 
refused  to  go  to  them,  he  went ;  thus  it  was  he  who 
first  gathered  this  society  together.  His  opinion  of  Mr. 
Briggs  was  well  founded  ;  he  was  very  friendly  towards 
him  when  he  returned,  never  expressing  to  him 
the  slightest  dissatisfaction  with  the  part  he  had  taken, 
and  always  manifesting  a  deep  and  affectionate  in- 
terest in  the  welfare  of  the  society. 

Dr.  Follen  was  pleased  at  finding  among  the  people 
that  fresh  and  hearty  interest  in  religion,  which  a  so- 
ciety newly  formed,  and  formed  in  spite  of  obstacles, 
usually  manifests.  They,  too,  were  pleased  with  his 
preaching,  and  put  their  pulpit  under  his  charge,  urging 
him  to  preach,  himself,  as  often  as  possible,  and, 
when  he  could  not,  to  send  some  one  whom  he  should 
approve.  This  he  readily  agreed  to  ;  and  it  was 
from  that  time  a  favorite  wish  with  him,  that  this  little 
society  should  form  a  church  upon  a  new  and  better 
foundation  than  any  that  yet  existed,  one  more  truly 
deserving  the  name  of  a  Christian  church. 

As  it  was  Dr.  Follen's  determination  not  to  remain 
in  the  College  merely  as  a  German  teacher,  upon  a 
salary  of  five  hundred  dollars,  he  sent  the  following 
letter  to  the  President. 


358  LIFE    OF   CHAHLES   FOLLEN. 

"  Cambridge,  22d  January,  1835. 
"DEAR  SIR, 

"  In  my  last  conversation  with  you  on  the  subject 
of  my  connexion  with  the  University,  you  mentioned, 
that  if  I  intended  to  leave  the  institution,  it  would  be 
desirable,  that  the  Corporation  should  know  my  de- 
termination as  soon  as  possible,  in  order  to  make 
provision  for  the  branch  of  instruction  intrusted  to  me. 
I  have  thought  it  best,  therefore,  to  repeat,  in  an 
official  manner,  what  I  said  to  you  some  time  ago, 
that  ever  since  you  communicated  to  Mr.  S.  Cabot, 
the  desire  of  the  Corporation  not  to  continue  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  German  Literature  from  the  funds  of  the 
College,  I  had  determined  to  resign  my  office  as 
German  Instructor,  as  soon  as  I  could  find  some  em- 
ployment, that  would  support  myself  and  family,  and 
to  give  reasonable  notice  of  my  purpose,  to  the  Cor- 
poration. I  shall  continue  to  perform  the  duties  of 
my  office  during  the  remainder  of  this  present  Col- 
lege year. 

"  I  take  the  liberty  of  recommending  the  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  F.  Grater,  as  my  successor  in  the 
office  of  German  Instructor.  I  know  of  no  person,  of 
whose  thorough  knowledge  of  the  German  language 
and  literature,  as  well  as  skill  and  patient  industry  in 
teaching,  I  have  such  unquestionable  evidence,  as  of 
Mr.  Grater's.  Several  times,  when  I  have  been  neces- 
sarily absent,  Mr.  Grater  has,  with  the  leave  of  the 
Corporation,  filled  my  place,  and  the  progress  of  the 
students  under  his  instruction,  has  established,  beyond 
doubt,  his  eminent  qualification  for  the  office. 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  359 

"  In  requesting  the  Corporation  to  accept  my  resig- 
nation, I  beg  leave  to  express  the  satisfaction  I  have 
derived  from  their  approbation  of  my  services,  as 
German  Instructor,  during  the  nine  years  that  I  have 
been  connected  with  the  College  in  this  capacity,  as 
well  as  from  the  success  of  my  labors  with  the  stu- 
dents. The  average  number  of  those  who  have 
chosen  the  study  of  the  most  difficult  of  the  modern 
languages,  is  now,  and  has  been  for  several  years, 
from  fifty  to  sixty,  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  add, 
that  they  have  never,  in  one  instance,  given  me  any 
cause  of  complaint. 

"  Will  you  have  the  kindness  to  lay  this  letter  be- 
fore the  Corporation. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Yours  very  respectfully, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

In  the  March  following,  the  President  transmitted 
to  him  the  vole  of  the  Corporation,  accepting  his 
resignation  of  his  office  of  teacher  of  the  German 
language  ;  the  Professorship  of  German  literature  was 
of  course  at  an  end  when  the  subscription  terminated, 
which  was  raised  entirely  by  private  individuals. 

I  give  a  copy  of  the  vote  of  the  Corporation. 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College,  held  on  the  25th  of  March,  1835, 

"  A  letter  from  Dr.  Follen  was  read,  resigning  his 
office  of  Instructor  in  the  German  language,  after  the 
present  term ;  whereupon 


360         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"  Voted,  that  his  resignation  be  accepted. 

"  Voted,  that  Professor  Ticknor  be  requested  to 
recommend  a  suitable  person  to  be  employed  as  In- 
structor in  the  German  language  until  next  Com- 
mencement, in  the  place  of  Dr.  Follen,  resigned."  * 

There  were  moments  during  this  winter,  when  Dr. 
Follen  suffered  great  anxiety  with  regard  to  his  future 
prospects  ;  but  he  was  never  habitually  depressed. 
The  great  subjects  of  general  interest,  the  progress 
of  religion,  the  cause  of  humanity,  or  a  lively  con- 
versation with  a  friend,  and,  more  than  all,  the  merry 
sports  of  his  boy,  could  always  drive  away  the  clouds 
of  personal  care.  His  great  distress  was,  that  we 
were  in  debt,  and,  with  all  his  willingness  to  work,  no 
way  lay  open  before  him  of  earning  the  means  to  pay 
it.  One  day  he  had  been  expressing  to  me  what  he 
suffered  on  this  account,  and  speaking  of  his  disap- 
pointments in  Cambridge  ;  he  was  unusually  de- 
pressed ;  while  we  were  talking,  he  received  a  letter 
from  his  brother-in-law,  stating  the  wish  of  the  guar- 
dians of  Mr.  James  Perkins's  sons,  that  he  would 
take  charge  of  their  education.  The  proposals 
that  were  made  to  him  were  very  liberal ;  every 
thing  was  promised,  that  could  make  the  office  de- 
sirable and  agreeable  to  him.  He  was  to  stand  in  the 
place  of  father  as  well  as  teacher  to  the  boys  ;  we 
were  to  take  them  into  our  family  ;  a  house  was  to  be 

*  Mr.  Bokum  was  afterwards  appointed  teacher  of  the  German 
language  ;  but  there  is  still  no  professorship  of  German  literature 
in  the  College. 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  361 

provided  for  us ;  every  thing  to  enable  us  to  live  com- 
fortably was  to  be  furnished  us  ;  and  all  our  household 
expenses  were  to  be  supplied.  In  addition  to  this, 
Dr.  Follen  was  to  receive  a  salary  of  two  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  for  devoting  his  time  exclusively  to  the 
instruction  of  the  boys.  This  not  only  opened  to  him 
important  duties,  and  gave  him  a  comfortable  home, 
but  it  also  offered  him  the  means  of  paying  his  debts, 
and  thus  of  setting  his  mind  at  ease  with  regard  to  pe- 
cuniary concerns.  It  was  very  desirable  to  him,  for  he 
could  not  endure  the  thought  of  owing  any  man  money; 
but  before  he  accepted  the  proposal,  he  thought  it  right 
to  make  known  explicitly  his  views  with  regard  to  the 
proper  foundation  of  such  a  connexion,  and  the  con- 
ditions upon  which  he  could  conscientiously  under- 
take such  a  charge.  These  views  he  expressed  fully 
in  the  following  letter  to  their  guardian,  Dr.  Robbins. 

"  Cambridge,  March  llth,  1835. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  carefully  reflected  on  your  letter,  as  well 
as  on  our  previous  conversation  with  regard  to  your 
wards,  whom  you  propose  to  place  under  my  immedi- 
ate charge.  Having  now  your  definite  proposition 
before  me,  I  will  state  to  you  my  views  with  that 
perfect  frankness,  which  the  confidence  that  you  have 
reposed  in  me,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  duty  you 
wish  me  to  engage  in,  demands. 

"  Let  me  first  repeat  what  I  have  already  express- 
ed to  you,  that  I  most  fully  appreciate  the  elevated 
motives  and  enlarged  views,  which  guide  you  in  en- 

VOL.  i.  31 


362  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

deavouring  to  provide  for  the  intellectual  and  moral 
training  of  your  wards,  and  in  the  very  liberal  offer 
which  you  have  made  me.  I  concur  in  all  the  essen- 
tials of  the  mode  of  education  which  you  have  de- 
vised for  them,  and  shall  be  glad  to  devote  to  them 
all  my  powers,  if  I  can  make  my  views  harmonize 
with  yours  on  some  points  which  I  wish  to  offer  to 
your  consideration. 

"  I  observed  to  you,  that,  before  you  came  to  see 
me,  I  had  a  conversation  on  this  subject  with  Colonel 
Perkins,  before  his  departure.  From  this  conversa- 
tion, I  received  the  general  impression,  which  your 
observation  afterwards  confirmed,  that  it  was  the  in- 
tention and  desire  of  all  who  were  interested,  to  se- 
cure to  these  sons  of  Mr.  J.  Perkins  all  the  means 
of  improvement  and  enjoyment  which  a  regular  course 
of  instruction,  together  with  the  influence  of  a  happy 
home,  and  the  refinements  of  society,  could  afford. 

"  Impressed  with  this  view,  I  thought  if  I  under- 
took the  superintendence  of  their  education,  that  I 
should  but  very  imperfectly  fulfil  my  obligation,  if  I 
were  merely  to  fit  them  for  college,  and  keep  them 
out  of  harm's  way.  I  should  feel  bound  to  educate 
them  not  only  for  college,  but  for  life ;  I  should  study 
their  natures,  awake  every  dormant  energy,  cherish 
every  generous  sentiment,  and  lead  them  to  form  such 
habits  and  tastes  as  would  qualify  them  to  act  an  hon- 
orable part  in  those  relations  of  life,  which  they  would 
be  called  upon  to  sustain.  I  should  endeavour,  not 
only  to  furnish  them  with  general  information,  but 
to  discover  any  individual  talent  and  taste,  that,  by 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN.          363 

proper  cultivation,  might  give  to  their  pursuits  in  after 
life  a  decided  direction  to  some  practical  object. 
For  I  believe,  that,  to  a  young  man  called  to  the  pos- 
session of  wealth,  there  is  no  temptation  so  great,  as 
that  which  arises  from  having  no  decided  object  in 
life,  no  pursuit  that  occupies  his  mind  in  his  many 
hours  of  leisure.  To  effect  this  purpose,  a  residence 
in  Boston  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  previous 
to  their  becoming  permanently  connected  with  college, 
seemed  to  me  preferable  to  one  in  the  country  ;  chiefly 
because  the  city  affords  greater  resourses  and  means 
of  social  and  intellectual  improvement  than  the  coun- 
try, where  the  advantages  of  society  cannot  be  pro- 
cured without  effort,  expense,  loss  of  time,  and  some 
exposure.  The  peculiar  advantages  which  the  city 
affords,  can  be  connected  with  the  pleasures  of  home. 
In  the  country  the  boys  must  be  sent  to  society  ;  in 
the  city  society  may  be  brought  to  them.  We  know 
that  children  cannot  be  taught  to  avail  themselves  of 
the  benefits,  and  to  avoid  the  dangers,  of  society  ;  un- 
less they  be  educated  among  those  particularly,  with 
whom  they  are  most  likely  to  associate  in  after  life. 
The  power  of  choosing  their  companions,  which  must 
be  acquired  early,  is  particularly  important  to  boys 
that  are  destined  for  college.  This  consideration, 
together  with  the  opportunity  of  a  constant  intercourse 
with  their  relations,  and  of  acquiring  such  accomplish- 
ments as  they  may  be  capable  and  desirous  of  obtain- 
ing, seemed  to  recommend  a  fixed  residence  in  Bos- 
ton, with  the  exception  of  the  few  summer  months, 
during  which  a  temporary,  and  not  expensive,  arrange- 
ment in  the  country  would  be  preferable. 


364  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  I  feel  persuaded,  that  you  appreciate  the  motive 
which  makes  me  lay  stress  upon  this  point,  not  as  a 
matter  of  choice,  but  as  a  part  of  the  most  promising 
plan  of  education  I  could  devise,  without  which  I  feel 
less  assured  of  success,  and  of  course  less  responsi- 
ble for  the  result.  Still,  it  is  possible,  that  a  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  character  of  the  boys,  may 
convince  me,  that  a  retired  education  in  the  country, 
secluded  from  continual  intercourse  with  their  rela- 
tions and  companions,  is  better  suited  to  them.  At 
any  rate,  I  think  with  you,  that  it  is  best  not  to  com- 
mence at  this  season  of  the  year  in  Boston.  But  if, 
after  some  months'  residence  in  the  country,  I  should 
still  be  of  opinion,  that  the  boys  would  be  benefited 
by  spending  the  winter  in  the  city,  I  feel  as  if  a  re- 
fusal of  this  my  desire,  would  be  impairing  my  power 
of  benefiting  them  as  much  as  I  might,  and  conse- 
quently lessening  my  responsibility  for  the  result. 
Unless,  therefore,  my  present  views  should  be 
changed  by  further  consideration,  I  must  deem  it 
essential  to  the  success  of  my  plan,  that  you  should 
extend  your  confidence  in  the  singleness  of  my  inten- 
tion to  promote  the  best  interests  of  these  boys,  and 
my  capacity  to  judge  of  the  mode  of  education  best 
adapted  to  them,  so  far  as  to  grant  me  power  to  de- 
cide this  point.  I  feel  assured,  that  my  decision 
would  be  founded  on  reasons  suggested  by  experience, 
which,  as  we  are  prompted  by  the  same  interest, 
would  lead  both  you  and  me  to  the  same  result. 

"  I  agree  with  you  in  thinking  it  desirable,  that  the 
two  eldest  boys  should  enter  college  a  year  from  next 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  365 

Commencement.  But  after  they  shall  have  entered, 
it  may  appear  safer,  and  more  profitable  to  them,  that 
they  should  not  live  in  Cambridge,  but  pursue,  out  of 
college,  the  studies  of  the  class  which  they  have  join- 
ed, under  my  private  tuition.  The  latter  course 
would  be  more  laborious  to  me  ;  but  if  experience, 
and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  character  of  the 
boys,  should  convince  me  that  it  is  best  for  them  to 
be  kept  out  of  college  till  their  Sophomore  or  Junior 
year,  I  feel  assured  that  you  will  consent  to  my  pur- 
suing my  own  method  in  carrying  them  forward  in 
their  studies. 

"  If  I  understand  rightly  the  relation  that  you  wish 
me  to  assume  toward  the'se  boys,  it  is  not  that  of  a 
master  under  authority,  but  as  much  as  possible  that 
of  a  parent.  While  under  my  charge,  they  must  not 
be  induced  to  look  up  to  a  higher  authority  than  mine, 
but  be  required  by  you  to  comply  with  my  directions; 
with  implicit  confidence,  that  I  shall  desire  of  them 
only  what  my  duty  to  them  bids  me  to  demand.  I 
desire  no  more,  and  no  other  authority,  than  such  as 
seems  indispensable  to  the  performance  of  my  duties. 
These  duties  are  such  as  to  require  a  constant  confi- 
dential understanding  between  you  and  me,  which  will 
make  it  not  only  agreeable,  but  highly  important  to 
me  to  be  able  continually  to  recur  to  your  advice,  and 
in  all  things  to  consult  your  wishes. 

"  You  say  in  your  letter,  '  As  to  personal  conven- 
ience, and  fulfilment  of  my  duties,  it  would  promote 
my  own  designs  to  make  this  establishment  under  the 
superintendence  of  an  individual,  who  would  also  un- 
31  * 


366  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

dertake  the  charge  of  ray  other  boy,  Marshall.'  It 
gives  me  pain  to  repeat  what  I  said  to  you  when  this 
additional  arrangement  was  first  proposed.  I  think  I 
could  discharge  my  duties  to  the  three  other  boys 
more  fully,  if  I  have  them  entirely  by  themselves  ; 
and  that  it  is  for  their  best  interest,  that  I  should  not 
undertake  the  care  and  responsibility  of  the  education 
of  any  other.  I  feel  assured,  that,  even  if  you  had 
less  confidence  in  my  motives  than  you  have  shown 
me,  the  obvious  fact,  that  by  not  acceding  to  this 
proposition,  I  sacrifice  a  pecuniary  advantage,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  pain  I  must  feel  at  refusing  any  wish  of 
yours,  would  convince  you,  that  nothing  but  a  sense 
of  duty,  and  an  anxious  desire  to  do  the  best  I  can 
for  the  three  brothers,  could  induce  me  to  decline  this 
proposal.  You  add,  that  '  any  disability  on  my 
part  in  this  particular  will  not  affect  the  other  arrange- 
ment, provided  all  other  things  shall  conspire  to  a 
prosperous  consummation  of  your  designs.'  Allow 
me  to  say,  that,  if  there  be  any  other  arrangement  by 
which  you  think  you  may  promote  equally  well  the 
interest  of  the  three  sons  of  Mr.  Perkins,  and  which 
will  combine  also  your  own  designs  with  regard  to 
your  son  Marshall,  I  beg  you  to  make  it  without  any 
reference  to  me.  For,  though  I  feel  the  strongest  de- 
sire to  accept  your  very  advantageous  offer,  and  con- 
sequently great  unwillingness  to  give  up  a  sphere  of 
usefulness,  which  you  have  opened  to  me,  and  al- 
though the  superintendence  of  the  education  of  these 
boys  has  now  become  a  favorite  project  with  me,  I 
should  not  allow  any  steps  that  have  been  taken  for 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  367 

this  purpose,  or  my  own  interests  and  wishes,  to  in- 
terfere with  any  other  plan,  which  you,  as  a  friend  and 
guardian  of  these  children,  may  devise  for  their  good. 

"  I  entirely  acquiesce  in  your  views  of  the  impor- 
tance of  accounts,  in  the  disbursement  of  moneys,  and 
of  the  principles  which  should  regulate  their  appro- 
priation, as  well  as  in  the  necessity  of  a  just  econo- 
my. In  this,  as  in  other  things,  as  you  yourself  say, 
you  must  confide  in  me,  and  I  in  you.  The  liberal 
salary  you  offer  me,  enables  me  to  devote  myself 
wholly  to  a  charge,  in  the  successful  performance  of 
which  all  my  personal  interests  must  be  engaged. 

"  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  state  to  you,  without 
reserve,  my  views  on  the  principal  points  on  which 
my  success  in  this  undertaking  seems  to  me  to  depend. 
I  have  expressed  myself  the  more  earnestly,  as  a  fail- 
ure on  my  part  would  be  attended  with  an  injury  to 
my  reputation,  and  mortification  to  my  feelings,  for 
which  no  pecuniary  advantage  that  could  be  offered, 
would  be  an  adequate  compensation. 

"  If,  after  this  explanation  of  my  views  and  wishes, 
you  feel  satisfied  that  they  sufficiently  conform  to 
yours,  I  shall  be  ready  and  glad  to  commence  the 
undertaking  as  early  as  the  middle  of  April. 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 
"  DR.  ROBBINS." 

Dr.  Follen's  views  and  wishes  were  kindly  met  by 
the  guardian  of  the  boys,  and  every  thing  was  done 
to  render  his  office  as  easy  and  agreeable  to  him  as 


m 


368  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


possible.  He  immediately  made  such  arrangements 
for  the  performance  of  his  duties,  for  the  remainder  of 
his  college  engagement,  as  were  satisfactory  ;  and  we 
removed  on  the  1st  of  April  to  Watertown,  where  we 
were  soon  prepared  to  receive  our  new  inmates.  His 
pupils  were  obedient,  affectionate,  and  happy,  and 
they  and  their  teacher  were  mutually  pleased  with 
each  other. 

We  had  left  very  disagreeable  lodgings,  and  we 
were  now  in  a  delightful  house,  which,  for  the  time, 
we  might  call  our  own.  To  us,  who  had  felt  much 
inconvenience  from  our  narrow  accommodations,  and 
from  the  many  petty  evils  of  poverty,  the  freedom 
and  comparative  luxury  of  our  present  mode  of  life 
were  a  great  enjoyment.  Again  Dr.  Follen  unpacked 
and  arranged  his  papers  and  books  to  his  liking,  in  a 
fine  large  apartment  devoted  to  the  purposes  of  a 
study  for  himself  and  his  pupils  ;  this  was  a  privilege 
he  had  not  enjoyed  for  nearly  two  years.  Again  hope 
took  its  legitimate  place  in  his  heart.  I  would  not 
give  the  idea  that  he  had  been  unhappy  during  this 
period  ;  moments,  nay,  long  hours,  of  deep  anxiety 
he  certainly  experienced,  but  he  soon  cast  it  off; 
the  foundations  of  his  peace  were  immovable  ;  an  un- 
utterable serenity  seemed  to  be  the  element  in  which 
his  soul  dwelt  ;  his  cheerfulness  was  unfailing.  All 
the  minor  and  comparatively  insignificant  cares  of  life 
took  their  right  place  in  his  presence  ;  the  spirit  of 
complaint  stood  rebuked  before  him  ;  joy,  a  pure  joy, 
full  of  faith  and  hope  and  immortality,  pervaded  his 
whole  being,  and  communicated  itself  to  those  who 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  369 

had  the  privilege  of  living  with  him  and  of  being 
loved  by  him.  Yet  there  were  few  men,  who  had  a 
keener  relish  for  all  the  smaller  pleasures  of  life  than 
he  ;  all  its  refinements,  even  in  trifles,  were  prized  by 
him.  When  I  have  asked  him,  upon  seeing  how 
much  he  enjoyed  such  things,  how  it  was  that  he 
never  expressed  any  desire  for  them,  he  answered, 
"  I  forget  such  trifles  when  they  are  out  of  sight; 
our  happiness  has  nothing  to  do  with  them." 

Dr.  Follen  entered  upon  his  duties  to  his  pupils,  as 
he  had  said  in  his  letter  to  their  guardian,  with  a  pur- 
pose, not  merely  to  keep  them  out  of  harm's  way  and 
fit  them  for  college,  but  to  discover  the  means  of  edu- 
cating them  for  the  highest  happiness  and  largest  use- 
fulness, that  their  natures  and  circumstances  allowed. 
Fearing  that  his  knowledge  of  the  elementary  part 
of  mathematics,  from  long  neglect,  might  not  be  quite 
adequate,  he  took,  for  a  short  time,  a  teacher  for  him- 
self to  refresh  his  memory  in  this  branch.  He  put 
his  whole  soul  into  the  work  he  had  undertaken.  He 
hoped  so  to  unfold  the  intellects  of  his  pupils,  so  to 
guide  their  actions,  so  to  store  their  memories,  so  to 
win  their  hearts,  and  so  to  rouse  their  will  and  raise 
their  thoughts,  as  to  lead  them  on  to  the  highest  ex- 
cellence that  they  were  capable  of  attaining.  He 
would  often  say  to  me,  "  If  I  can  succeed  in  making 
these  boys,  who  possess  such  great  means  of  useful- 
ness, what  I  would  have  them  to  be,  I  shall  feel  that 
I  have  done  something  of  importance  in  the  world, 
something  worth  living  for." 

A  letter,  which  Dr.  Follen  wrote  to  Dr.  Jackson 


370  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

this  summer,  in  acknowledgment  of  his  kindness  in 
presenting  him  with  two  copies  of  the  '  Memoir '  of 
his  son,  will,  I  think,  be  read  with  interest. 

"  JVatertown,  June  27 tk,  1835. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  delayed  thanking  you  for  your  beautiful 
present  until  a  faithful  perusal  of  the  volume  should 
enable  me  to  appreciate  its  whole  value.  It  is,  in- 
deed, the  most  appropriate  and  honorable  monument, 
that  paternal  affection  could  have  raised  to  filial  piety, 
intellectual  industry,  and  moral  purity.  Your  account 
of  the  life  of  your  son  is  to  me  a  new  confirmation 
of  what  I  have  more  than  once  observed,  that  the 
strongest  affection,  the  greatest  love,  dazzles  and  blinds 
only  a  selfish  disposition,  while  it  makes  a  generous 
mind  more  clear-sighted  with  regard  to  individual  de- 
fects, as  well  as  excellences,  in  the  object  of  our  at- 
tachment. 

"  I  am  sure  no  one  can  read  that  '  Memoir,'  and 
the  letters  of  James,  without  admiring  his  character, 
and  the  indefatigable  zeal  with  which  he  devoted  him- 
self to  his  profession,  not  merely  with  a  view  to  fit 
himself  for  the  practice,  but  to  advance  the  science, 
of  medicine.  His  ardent  love  of  knowledge,  his 
conscientious,  disinterested,  and  self-sacrificing  de- 
votion to  his  great  pursuit,  are  manifested  in  all  his 
conduct  and  letters,  and  most  signally  in  his  noble 
resolution  to  remain  in  Paris  at  the  time  of  the  chol- 
era. I  consider  it  as  one  of  the  most  happy  occur- 
rences in  your  son's  life,  that  he  found,  in  his  teacher 


LIFE    OF  CHARLES    FOLLEN.  371 

in  Paris,  a  man  that  would  not  confine  himself  to  gen- 
eral instruction,  but  one  that  had  eyes  to  see  the  in- 
dividual talent  and  tendency  of  his  mind,  that  pointed 
out  the  path  in  which  he  was  fitted  by  nature  to  ex- 
cel. And  it  was  equally  creditable  to  his  own  dis- 
cernment, not  to  mistake  his  true  calling,  but  to  de- 
vote himself  chiefly  to  observation. 

"  If  I  look  upon  your  letter  to  James,  when  on 
the  point  of  leaving  this  country,  and  upon  his  letters 
to  you  from  abroad,  I  see  in  them  a  rich  return  for 
the  precious  seed  you  had  sown ;  a  solid  preparation 
for  a  course  of  improvement,  which  death  has  only 
transferred  to  a  higher  sphere,  as  well  as  a  never  fail- 
ing source  of  consolation  for  your  disappointed  hopes. 
"  I  shall  make  use  of  the  two  copies  you  have  sent 
me,  in  the  spirit  of  your  purpose  in  compiling  the 
work,  particularly  by  putting  it  into  the  hands  of 
young  men  devoting  themselves  to  liberal  and  profes- 
sional pursuits.  I  do  not  know  of  a  more  affecting 
and  encouraging  example  for  them,  than  the  life  of 
your  son. 

"  With  my  warmest  thanks  for  your  very  kind  and 
highly  valuable  present,  I  remain,  dear  Sir, 
"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN. 
"  DR.  J.  JACKSON." 

Soon  after  we  moved  to  Watertown,  Dr.  Follen 
received  from  a  number  of  his  late  pupils  in  Harvard 
University,  a  complete  and  very  handsome  set  of  the 
works  of  Jean  Paul  Richter,  which  they  begged  him 


372  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

to  accept  as  a  proof  of  their  respect  and  of  their 
grateful  affection.     I  give  his  reply. 

"  Watertown,  July  18th,  1835. 
"  GENTLEMEN, 

11 1  have  received  the  beautiful  present  of  my  late 
pupils  in  Harvard  University ;  and,  as  it  was  through 
you,  Gentlemen,  that  this  precious  token  of  their 
friendship  has  been  forwarded  to  me,  I  would  ask 
you,  in  return,  to  receive  yourselves,  and  express  to 
them,  my  most  hearty  thanks.  Your  present  is,  in- 
deed, so  valuable  in  itself,  that  nothing  could  enhance 
it  but  the  affectionate  kindness  of  those  who  gave  it, 
united  to  the  remembrance  of  ten  years  of  academic 
instruction,  rendered  easy,  and  interesting,  and  dear 
to  me,  by  the  faithful  application,  the  gentlemanly 
conduct,  and  grateful  attachment  of  my  pupils. 

"  If  my  humble  endeavours  to  make  you  acquaint- 
ed and  familiar,  not  only  with  the  letter,  but  with  the 
quickening  spirit  of  German  literature,  have  been 
blest  with  some  degree  of  success  ;  if  the  patient  in- 
dustry, the  fearless  and  profound  reasoning,  the  spir- 
itual longings  and  unbounded  aspirations  of  German 
historians,  philosophers,  and  poets,  have  awakened 
in  your  youthful  minds  kindred  thoughts  and  desires, 
then  let  me  address  to  you  the  noble  admonition, 
which  Schiller,  in  his  'Don  Carlos,'  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Posa,  as  a  dying  bequest  to  his  young 
friend  Carlos,  intrusted  to  the  pure  soul  of  his  moth- 
er ;  — '  Tell  him,  that,  when  become  a  man,  he  shall 
reverence  the  dreams  of  his  youth,  that  he  shall  not 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  373 

open  his  heart,  the  tender,  divine  flower,  to  the  deathly 
insect  of  boasted,  superior  wisdom  ;  that  he  shall  not 
be  led  astray,  when  the  wisdom  of  the  dust  blas- 
phemes Inspiration,  the  daughter  of  Heaven.' 

"If  you  fulfil  this  command  of  the  poet,  the  say- 
ing of  him,  whose  works  you  have  chosen  as  a  token 
of  your  friendship  for  me,  will  be  verified  in  you  ; — 
the  '  remembrance  of  the  most  beautiful  hours  of  life 
will  become  to  you  the  richest  source  of  consolation 
for  the  last.' 

"  Accept  the  assurance  of  grateful  regard  and  sin- 
cere friendship,  with  which  I  remain  yours, 

11  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"  MR.  G.  BEMIS, 

"  MR.  J.  T.  G.  NICHOLS, 

"  MR.  F.  HUIDEKOPER, 

"  MR.  NATHAN  HALE,  JR." 

No  man  ever  enjoyed  such  testimonials  of  affec- 
tion more  heartily  than  Dr.  Follen.  As  he  put  up 
these  beautiful  books  on  the  shelves,  he  frequently 
repeated,  "  This  was  a  pretty  thing  in  my  young 
men.  These  books  are  very  precious  to  me.  I  shall 
love  to  look  at  them."  Ostentatious  presents  were 
intolerable  to  him  ;  but  such  tokens  of  respect  and 
affection  as  this,  he  prized  highly,  and  he  expressed 
his  pleasure  with  a  childlike  heartiness  and  simplicity. 

It  was  in  this  summer,  under  his  own  roof,  that  his 
friendship  with  Harriet  Martineau  commenced  ;  a 
friendship,  that  never  suffered  even  the  common  fluc- 
tuations of  friendship,  but  which  strengthened  and 

VOL.  i.  32 


374  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

deepened  with  time  and  knowledge,  and  became  one 
of  the  choicest  blessings  of  our  lives.  The  summer 
was  an  eminently  happy  one.  No  time  can  obliter- 
ate the  remembrance  of  the  blessed  hours  we  then 
enjoyed. 

In  the  autumn  it  was  deemed  expedient  by  the 
guardian  and  the  mother  of  the  boys,  that,  instead  of 
going  into  town,  we  should  remove  to  Milton,  where  a 
more  comfortable  house  could  be  obtained  for  the 
winter.  Dr.  Follen  entirely  acquiesced,  though  it 
was  contrary  to  his  original  plan  ;  but  circumstances, 
which  cannot  all  be  explained,  had  occurred  to  satisfy 
his  mind,  that,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  he  ought  to  re- 
linquish his  charge.  The  mother  of  the  boys,  who, 
at  the  commencement  of  this  undertaking,  was  quite 
ill,  had  now  entirely  recovered  her  health,  and  of 
course,  as  was  right  and  proper,  chose  to  resume  her 
control  over  her  sons.  He  was  satisfied,  that  the 
influence  of  a  divided  authority  was  injurious  to  the 
minds  of  the  children  ;  and,  although  the  guardians  of 
the  boys  urged  him  to  retain  his  charge,  his  nice 
sense  of  right  could  not  be  satisfied  with  the  situa- 
tion in  which  he  was  now  placed.  Painful  as  it  was, 
we  thought  it  would  be  our  duty  to  part. 

Dr.  Follen,  in  his  letter  to  Colonel  Perkins  an- 
nouncing his  determination  to  relinquish  the  charge  of 
his  nephews,  gives  him  an  account  of  his  mode  of  ed- 
ucating them,  which  passage  I  transcribe. 

"  From  the  time  that  I  undertook  the  care  of  the 
boys,  I  endeavoured  to  make  myself  thoroughly  ac- 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  375 

quainted  with  the  character,  the  capacity,  and  the  at- 
tainments of  each,  and  to  regulate  my  mode  of  in- 
struction and  discipline  accordingly.  I  had  first  to 
counteract  the  effects  of  a  system,  under  which  the 
two  older  boys  had  acquired  a  strong  distaste  for 
study,  and  a  want  of  confidence  in  their  instructor. 
I  believe  Mrs.  Follen  and  myself  have  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  confidence  of  the  boys,  in  a  higher  de- 
gree, than  we  could  have  expected  in  a  much  longer 
time.  We  have,  I  hope,  implanted  in  them  a  con- 
tempt for  all  manner  of  concealment,  by  imposing 
only  such  rules  as  their  own  moral  sense  approved, 
and  enforcing  them  with  undeviating  justice  ;  by  a 
ready  sympathy  with  all  their  concerns  and  wants, 
and  a  hearty  desire  to  gratify  all  their  legitimate  and 
innocent  desires.  I  was  aware,  that,  to  some,  this 
mode  of  treating  the  boys  might  seem  too  indulgent ; 
but  I  believe  experience  has  already  shown,  that  it 
was  the  only  course  of  discipline  that  could  secure 
a  ready  obedience  to  the  few  essential  rules,  which  I 
had  laid  down,  and  a  truly  filial  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  boys. 

"  With  regard  to  their  studies,  I  have  endeavour- 
ed, by  a  proper  division  and  successive  change  of 
subjects,  to  excite  their  attention,  secure  their  dili- 
gence, and  create  a  love  of  thorough  investigation 
and  intellectual  progress.  It  gives  me  pleasure  to 
say,  that  the  love  of  study,  which  the  boys  have  ac- 
quired, far  exceeds  what  I  had  a  right  to  expect. 
Edward  has  learned  to  love  the  study  of  algebra, 
which  he  used  to  dislike,  merely  because  he  had  not 


376  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

been  made  to  understand  what  he  was  required  to 
learn  ;  and  Charles  finds  satisfaction  in  mastering  a 
long  exercise  in  Greek,  which  he  used  to  dread.  In 
order  to  cultivate  their  power  of  reasoning  and  of 
composition,  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  giving  them, 
two  or  three  times  a  week,  a  general  lesson  on  inter- 
esting subjects,  partly  in  the  form  of  a  lecture,  and 
partly  in  asking  questions.  They  were  required  to 
write  down  all  they  remembered  of  the  lesson,  with 
additional  observations  of  their  own.  The  exercises 
they  have  thus  written,  will  show  what  profit  they 
have  derived  from  these  familiar  lectures,  which  I  felt 
confident  would  be  particularly  useful  to  them  as  a 
preparation  during  this  winter,  if  they  had  been  per- 
mitted to  frequent  some  courses  of  lectures  in  the 
city,  which  I  wished  them  to  attend. 

"Among  the  various  objects  to  which  my  atten- 
tion was  directed,  I  would  mention  particularly  the 
religious  education  of  the  children.  I  found,  that  re- 
ligion, and  the  exercises  connected  with  it,  were  to 
them,  perhaps,  the  dullest  of  all  subjects.  In  order 
to  remedy  this  evil,  arising  probably  from  a  previous 
injudicious  manner  of  presenting  this  subject,  I  ab- 
stained from  all  direct  teaching,  but  improved  every 
proper  occasion  for  quickening  their  religious  sensi- 
bility, particularly  in  my  general  lessons,  in  giving 
them  an  insight  into  the  moral,  as  well  as  physical, 
constitution  of  man.  I  directed  their  attention  to 
the  infinite  capacities  and  tendencies  of  our  nature, 
and  to  the  ultimate  connexion  of  the  religious  prin- 
ciple with  every  other  faculty.  Religion  thus  became 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  377 

to  them  a  new  subject,  full  of  intense  interest.  They 
found  unfeigned  satisfaction  in  our  simple  devotional 
exercises  at  home,  and,  on  Sunday,  they  went  to 
meeting  with  Mrs.  Follen  and  myself  in  the  forenoon. 
I  allowed  them  to  stay  at  home  in  the  afternoon,  on 
condition,  that  they  would  spend  it  properly  and 
profitably  ;  because  I  found,  that  two  services  weari- 
ed out  their  attention,  and  made  that  which  I  wanted 
to  be  to  them  a  matter  of  vital  interest,  a  dull  observ- 
ance of  forms. 

"  I  pass  over  many  topics,  for  fear  of  overtasking 
your  patience  ;  but  I  shall  be  glad  to  answer  any 
questions  you  may  wish  to  ask,  with  regard  to  my 
management  of  the  boys.  We  have  spent  a  happy 
summer,  owing  chiefly  to  their  good  conduct  ;  and  I 
hope  that  you  and  their  other  friends  are  satisfied  with 
their  progress." 

After  stating  his  reasons  at  large  to  Colonel  Per- 
kins, for  giving  up  the  care  of  his  nephews,  which 
there  would  be  a  manifest  impropriety  in  making  pub- 
lic, Dr  Follen  goes  on  to  say,  "  It  would  give  me 
pain  to  be  misunderstood,  as  if  I  were  finding  fault, 
or  disposed  to  decide  on  the  right  or  wrong  in  this 
matter.  But  I  feel  confident,  that  your  judgment 
will  concur  in  my  conscientious  decision  to  give  up  a 
situation,  in  which  I  can  no  longer  be  what  you  wish- 
ed and  expected  me  to  be  to  the  grandchildren  of 
your  brother.  The  parting  with  the  boys,  to  whom 
Mrs.  Follen  and  myself  have  become  sincerely  and 
permanently  attached,  is  deeply  painful  to  us.  We 
feel  confident,  however,  that  they  will  never  cease  to 
32* 


378  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

look  upon  us  as  their  friends,  though  the  present  con- 
nexion be  dissolved." 

The  guardians  of  the  boys  very  unwillingly  ac- 
quiesced in  Dr.  Follen's  decision.  All  who  knew 
him  intimately,  were  sure  that  nothing  but  a  solemn 
sense  of  duty  could  have  induced  him  to  relinquish 
his  charge  ;  and  to  those  who  look  at  what  was  to  him 
a  minor  motive,  the  fact,  that  he  gave  up  present 
comfort,  and  the  means  of  securing  a  competence  for 
the  future,  —  to  all  such  judges,  there  must  be  satisfac- 
tory evidence,  that  he  acted  from  the  highest  princi- 
ple. When  the  boys  heard  that  we  were  to  part  in 
the  spring,  their  grief  was  extreme,  and  that  day 
many  a  tear  was  shed  by  us  all.  It  was,  and  still  is,  an 
unspeakable  joy  to  remember,  that  this  connexion, 
while  it  lasted,  was  an  unalloyed  pleasure  to  all  con- 
cerned. I  know  well,  that  the  young  men  who  were 
under  Dr.  Follen's  care,  consider  the  spotless  exam- 
ple he  set  before  them,  as  one  of  the  highest  and 
purest  blessings  of  their  lives  ;  they  must  love  to  think 
of  his  gentle  firmness,  his  unwearied  fidelity,  and  the 
sympathizing  tenderness  with  which  he  performed  all 
his  duties  towards  them.  It  must  be  a  deep  joy  to 
them  to  remember,  also,  that  they  never  gave  him  any 
pain,  except  that  which  they  shared  with  him  and  his 
family,  the  precious  though  sad  sorrow  at  parting. 

It  was  during  this  year,  from  the  spring  of  1835  to 
that  of  1836,  that  the  anti-slavery  cause  experienced 
some  of  its  greatest  trials  and  most  bitter  opposition ; 
this  was  of  course  not  a  time  for  Dr.  Follen  to  de- 
sert it.  He  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  board  of 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  379 

managers  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-slavery  Society ; 
he  attended  every  meeting  which  was  notified  to  him, 
when  not  prevented  by  his  duties  at  home.  His  soul 
was  deeply  moved  when  he  heard  of  the  outrages 
committed  by  the  mob  in  Boston,  against  the  meeting 
of  the  Ladies'  Anti-slavery  Society,  and  of  that  dis- 
graceful act  of  dragging  Mr.  Garrison  through  the 
streets  by  a  halter  ;  and  that  all  this  should  be  done, 
either  by  the  aid,  or  with  the  quiet  acquiescence,  and 
in  the  presence,  of  thousands  of  its  citizens.  Then 
was  it,  when  he  heard  of  these  outrages,  that  his  heart 
was  knit  anew  to  the  persecuted  cause.  He  had 
always  felt  a  true  respect  for  Mr.  Garrison,  from  the 
first  of  his  acquaintance,  when,  to  use  the  words  of 
another,  "  He  found  him  in  a  little  upper  chamber, 
where  were  his  writing-desk,  his  types,  and  his  print- 
ing press  ;  his  parlour  by  day,  his  sleeping  room  by 
night  ;  where,  known  only  by  a  few  other  faithful 
spirits,  he  denied  himself  all  but  the  bare  necessaries 
of  life,  that  he  might  give  himself  up,  heart  and  hand, 
to  the  despised  cause  of  the  negro  slave." 

He  did  not  agree  with  Mr.  Garrison  upon  some 
questions  unconnected  with  the  anti-slavery  cause  ; 
his  taste  and  feelings  were  offended  by  the  language 
he  occasionally  used  ;  he  was  deeply  pained  by  his 
harsh  attacks  upon  individuals  ;  but  he  never  allowed 
his  perception  of  what  he  thought  Mr.  Garrison's 
faults,  to  overshadow  his  conviction  of  his  great  vir- 
tues. He  reverenced  his  fearless  devotion  to  princi- 
ple ;  his  uncompromising  declaration  and  vindication 
of  what  he  considered  truth,  against  the  weakness  or 


380  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

mistakes  of  its  friends,  as  well  as  against  the  open 
and  determined  opposition  of  its  enemies.  He  ad- 
mired his  disinterestedness,  his  magnanimity  ;  he  re- 
lied much  upon  his  sagacity  in  detecting  false  princi- 
ples ;  he  loved  the  single-hearted  purity  of  his  pur- 
poses, and  the  childlike  sweetness  of  his  disposition. 
Dr.  Follen  never  lost  sight  of  these  virtues  in  Mr. 
Garrison,  even  when  he  was  most  displeased  with 
what  he  considered  his  faults.  He  believed  that  it 
was  not  passion,  but  partly  a  bad  habit,  and  partly 
principle,  that  induced  him  to  use  offensive  language  ; 
that  no  doubt  he  considered  himself  bound  to  speak 
as  he  was  prompted  by  the  spirit  that  moved  him,  as 
truly  as  the  prophets  of  old  were  obliged  to  declare 
the  whole  counsel  of  God,  without  any  regard  to  the 
consequences  ;  in  short,  he  loved  and  honored  Mr. 
Garrison.  But  I  return  from  this  digression. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Harriet  Martineau,  Dr. 
Follen  expresses  fully  and  strongly  his  views  upon 
many  important  subjects.  It  was  written  soon  after 
our  removal  to  Milton.  He  had  just  read  the  rude 
attack  made  upon  her  in  the  "Daily  Advertiser,"  in 
consequence  of  her  accepting  an  invitation  to  attend 
the  Ladies'  Anti-slavery  meeting  in  Boston,  and  had 
sent  the  following  note  to  the  editor. 

"  TO    MR.    HALE. 
"SIR, 

"I  have  read  in  the  'Daily  Advertiser'  of  this 
day,  the  editorial  comment  on  Miss  H.  Martineau, 
followed  by  an  article  from  the  '  New  York  Courier 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         381 

and  Enquirer,'  which  is  introduced  to  the  readers  of 
the  'Daily  Advertiser,'  as  containing  the  remarks  of 
an  intelligent  contemporary  on  that  lady.  I  do  not 
remember  having  met  with  an  article  more  lame  in 
logic,  more  indecent  in  sentiment,  and  more  unfair 
and  ungentlernanly  in  its  application.  I  conclude  from 
this,  that  the  paper  is  no  longer  under  your  personal 
direction,  and  that  it  has  ceased  to  be  the  organ  of  the 
well-educated  portion  of  the  community.  It  is  my 
wish,  therefore,  that  the  '  Daily  Advertiser'  may  not 
be  sent  to  me  any  more.  Trusting  that  you  have  no 
part  whatever  in  the  article,  which  has  disgraced  and 
degraded  the  '  Daily  Advertiser,' 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

"  Yours,  respectfully, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

LETTER  TO  H.  MARTINEAU. 

"  November  3(M,  1835. 
"  DEAR  HARRIET, 

"  Your  kind  note  found  us  busy  as  the  ants  in  reduc- 
ing to  order  the  dismembered  particles  of  our  house- 
hold ;  and,  as  we  read  with  our  hearts,  which  have  not 
ceased  to  embrace  the  true  old  faith  in  transubstantia- 
tion,  we  found  it  easy,  with  the  friendly  features  of 
your  mind  before  our  eyes,  to  believe  in  your  bodily 
presence.  Thank  you  for  your  heart-cheering  and 
soul-staying  philosophy  of  ease.  It  comes  home  to 
us  in  our  domestic  discomforts,  and  holds  good  in  our 
disturbed  political  world.  We  have  settled  a  point, 
and  shall  we  not  act  thereupon  ?  We  have  stepped 


382  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

out  of  the  safe  vessel  of  selfish  indifference,  and  ven- 
tured to  walk  on  the  troubled  waters  of  philanthropic 
enterprise.  Should  we,  after  such  glorious  presump- 
tion, prove  to  be  of  little  faith,  giving  ourselves  up 
to  sudden  fright  at  the  rising  storm,  rather  than 
to  the  present  omnipotence  of  the  Saviour,  Truth, 
that  bade  us  come  forth  and  walk  by  faith  ?  But  the 
temptations  of  fear,  exerted  by  the  hostile  force  that 
opposes  our  course,  are  less  formidable  than  those 
arising  from  the  tender  concern  of  the  friends  of  our 
peace  and  reputation  and  influence,  who  are  con- 
tinually striving  to  hold  us  back,  or  retard  our  pro- 
gress. You  are  now  experiencing  what  cannot  be 
new  to  you  ;  though  you  may  not  have  met  with  it  in 
this  country  ;  how  little  in  times  of  trial  we  can  rely 
on  those  whose  affection  for  us  is  grounded  on  other 
things  than  our  principles  ;  who  cannot  bear  to  hear 
any  evil  spoken  against  us  ;  who  fear  our  influence 
may  be  impaired  by  an  ill-timed  assertion  of  unpopular 
truth,  &c.  Those  principles  in  which  we  live  and 
move,  and  have  our  being,  though  as  old  as  the  crea- 
tion of  man,  are  still  a  new  doctrine,  the  elements  of 
a  new  covenant,  even  in  civilized,  republican,  Chris- 
tian America.  They  are  as  the  bread  and  wine  of 
the  altar,  to  which  all  are  invited  but  of  which  few 
partake  ;  because  they  dread  to  sign  in  their  own 
hearts  the  pledge  of  truth,  which  may  have  to  be  re- 
deemed by  martyrdom.  For  is  it  not  true,  that  those 
who  maintain,  that  all  men  have  an  innate  divine  right 
to  all  the  means  of  improvement  and  happiness  within 
the  reach  of  man,  and  that  all  have  a  corresponding 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  383 

divine  obligation  to  claim  that  innate  right  for  each 
human  being,  are  either  shunned  with  silent  condem- 
nation as  abolitionists,  democrats,  agrarians,  or  hailed 
with  the  cries  of  '  Crucify  !  crucify  !  '  as  fanatics  and 
incendiaries  ?  But  if  the  world  separate  itself  from  us, 
it  leads  us  to  find  a  world  in  ourselves  and  in  each 
other ;  not  to  form  a  new  aristocracy  of  a  somewhat 
higher  stamp,  but  to  unite  our  strength  to  break  down 
every  wall  of  partition,  that  interferes  between  man 
and  our  fellow-man. 

"  Our  meeting  with  you,  dear  Harriet,  was  a  bless- 
ed recognition,  rather  than  a  new  acquaintance  ;  our 
friendship  had  a  preexistence  in  kindred  principles. 
Were  it  otherwise,  I  should  tenderly  regret,  that  your 
late  conscientious  '  indiscretion'  should  have  brought 
upon  you  censure,  and  acquainted  you  with  the  weight 
and  measure  of  many  professions  and  sentiments. 
But  you  have  c  settled  your  points,  and  acted  there- 
upon,' and  that  is  sufficient  to  compensate  you  for  all 
the  world  can  give  and  take  away. 

"I  have  many  more  things  to  say  to  you,  less  meta- 
physical, my  dear  friend,  than  the  above  essay,  but  I 
must  save  them  for  our  next  interview,  which  I  hope 
is  near  at  hand. 

"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"C.    FOLLEN." 

"December,  1836. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  My  wife  crossed  me  the  last  time,  and  so,  accord- 
ing to  our  principle  of  matrimonial  equality,  it  is  fair 


384  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

that  I  should  cross  her  now.  ***** 
admission  of  colored  people  to  anti-slavery  meetings 
is  not  a  matter  of  expediency,  but  of  vital  principle. 
Our  preaching  of  equality  avails  nothing,  if  we  do 
not  treat  them  as  equals,  seeking  or  avoiding  their  so- 
ciety on  the  same  principles  which  determine  our  in- 
tercourse with  the  whites.  It  is  this  deep-rooted 
national  prejudice,  without  doubt,  which  has  clothed 
such  a  simple  act  of  conscientious  kindness  as  your 
attendance  on  a  mixed  meeting  with  such  unnatural 
importance  in  the  eyes  of  your  friends,  and  stirred  up 
the  otherwise  unaccountable  amount  of  abuse  among 
the  enemies  of  your  principles. 

"  Miss 's  report  of  the  complaints  of  the  abo- 
litionists against  you,  on  account  of  your  speech,  is 
surely  incorrect,  as  far  as  the  most  efficient  men  in 
the  society  are  concerned,  whom  I  have  heard  at  the 
anti-slavery  society  office,  expressing  their  warm  and 
grateful  approbation  of  what  you  had  done  and  said. 

"  With  respect  to  the  faults  of  the  abolitionists, 
she  could  hardly  have  told  you  any  thing  new,  for 
their  faults  from  the  beginning  have  certainly  had  the 

merit  of  being  as  open  as  their  virtues.     Miss 's 

tone  of  reasoning  has  been,  from  the  first,  about  half 
a  note  below  the  right  pitch  ;  her  mind  is,  indeed,  a 
noble  instrument,  but  defective  in  this,  that  the  strings 
are  so  easily  affected  by  the  atmosphere  to  which  it 
happens  to  be  exposed,  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep  it 
in  tune.  *  *  *  Mcl)uffie's  message  I 

have  not  yet  seen  ;  it  will  undoubtedly  prove  a  valua- 
ble aid  to  the  cause  of  emancipation.  They  are  all 
doing  their  best  for  us. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  385 

"  I  am  pleased  with  what  you  say  of  my  papers  on 
the  Future  State,  and  shall  be  glad  to  converse  with 
you  further.  I  am  satisfied,  if  they  lead  people  to  a 
more  thorough  study  of  their  own  present  being,  as 
the  true  foundation  of  all  reasoning  on  its  future  con- 
dition. All  other  speculations  are  vague  and  un- 
satisfactory. 

"  I  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  having  you  with  us 
next  Friday,  to  settle  the  affairs  of  this  nether  -world 
at  least,  at  this  congress  of  our  Holy  Triple  Alliance. 
"  Yours,  affectionately, 

"  CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


VOL.  i.  33 


CHAPTER    XVI. 


Christmas-tree.  —  Meeting  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society.  —  Dr. 
Follen's  Address.  —  Vindication  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society 
before  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

IT  was  at  the  lighting  up  of  his  little  boy's  Christ- 
mas-tree, that  Dr.  Follen  hoped  for  the  presence  of 
our  friend.  Every  Christmas  since  Charles  was  two 
years  old,  his  father  had  dressed  a  Christmas-tree  for 
him,  after  the  fashion  of  his  own  country.  This  was 
always  the  happiest  day  in  the  year  to  him.  He 
spared  no  pains,  no  time,  in  adorning  the  tree,  and 
making  it  as  beautiful  as  possible.  This  year  he  went 
himself  into  the  woods  with  Charles  and  his  pupils, 
and  selected  a  fine  spruce  tree,  and  spent  many  hours 
preparing  it,  and  cutting  ornaments  for  it  of  different 
colored  paper,  &c.  Every  one  in  the  family  con- 
tributed to  its  decoration.  Then  he  placed  wax  ta- 
pers on  every  branch,  carefully,  so  as  to  light  the  tree 
perfectly,  but  not  to  set  fire  to  any  thing.  All  the 
children  of  our  acquaintance  were  invited  to  see  it  ; 
after  tea,  at  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  the  door  of  the  room 
where  the  tree  was  placed  was  opened,  and  the  chil- 
dren entered.  Dr.  Follen  always  placed  himself 
where  he  could  see  the  children's  faces  as  they 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  387 

entered.  "  It  was  in  their  eyes,"  he  used  to  say, 
"that  he  loved  best  to  see  the  Christmas-tree." 
After  the  lights  were  burned  out,  and  the  baskets  of 
sugar-plums  that  hung  on  the  tree  were  distributed, 
the  children  danced  or  played  games  the  rest  of 
the  evening.  As  Harriet  Martineau  could  not  be 
with  us  on  Christmas  evening,  we  had  deferred 
lighting  our  tree  till  new  year's  eve.  He  was  a  child 
with  the  children  ;  he  taught  them  games,  he  played 
with  them,  he  was  the  happiest  of  the  happy.  This 
was  the  last  Christmas-tree  he  ever  dressed  for  his 
boy.  When  the  children  were  in  bed,  we  chatted 
away  the  old  year  with  our  friend,  and,  to  comfort 
ourselves  for  the  thought,  that  we  should  never  pass 
such  another  new  year's  eve  together,  promised,  as 
the  clock  struck  twelve,  to  remember  each  other  at 
that  hour,  every  new  year's  eve  of  our  remaining 
lives. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society, 
on  the  20th  of  this  month,  Dr.  Follen  was  present, 
and  proposed  a  resolution,  which  he  advocated  in  an 
address  of  unusual  length  for  him.  As  his  remarks 
this  evening  set  forth  his  views  upon  some  very  im- 
portant questions,  and  as  I  have  often  heard  him  say, 
that  he  had  never  spoken  more  entirely  to  his  own 
satisfaction,  I  esteem  it  a  duty  to  him  to  give  it  entire 
in  this  record  of  his  life  and  opinions.  I  have,  there- 
fore, placed  it  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 

Not  long  after  this,  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts 
indirectly  passed  a  severe  censure  upon  the  Abolition- 
ists, by  the  manner  in  which,  in  his  inaugural  address, 


388  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

he  referred  to  the  declared  opinion  of  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State,  that  they  were,  by  their  sayings 
and  doings,  guilty  of  an  offence  against  the  laws  of 
their  country,  and  were  liable  to  prosecution.  Charges 
also  had  been  made  against  them  by  Southern  legis- 
latures, in  which  the  legislature  of  our  State  was  re- 
quested to  enact  laws,  making  it  penal  for  the  citizens 
to  form  societies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  or  to 
speak  or  publish  sentiments  such  as  had  been  uttered 
in  anti-slavery  meetings,  and  published  in  anti-slavery 
papers.  The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of 
five,  of  which  the  Honorable  George  Lunt  was  chair- 
man. The  board  of  managers  of  the  Massachusetts 
Anti-slavery  Society  thought  it  right  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  committee  of  the  House, 
and,  if  possible,  avert  any  action  on  the  part  of  the 
legislature  of  this  State  against  them.  Dr.  Follen 
was  put  upon  this  committee.  When  he  received  the 
notice  that  he  was  nominated,  his  first  thought  was  to 
refuse  to  serve,  because  of  the  extreme  inconvenience 
of  fulfilling  properly  such  a  duty  in  his  present  situa- 
tion. It  was  winter  time,  he  lived  eight  miles  from 
Boston,  and  a  great  part  of  the  day  his  engagements 
at  home  (for  his  pupils  were  yet  with  us)  were  not  to 
be  set  aside  ;  his  friends  as  well  as  his  opposers  had 
often  reminded  him,  that  his  being  a  foreigner  made  it 
peculiarly  offensive  in  him  to  take  any  part  in  this 
question  ;  and  he  disliked  the  notoriety  it  would  in- 
volve him  in  ;  but  this  was  just  the  time,  now  that  the 
cause  was  most  hated,  most  reviled,  for  all  true  hearts 
to  be  the  most  devoted.  It  was  the  time  of  trial ;  at 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  389 

another,  a  more  hopeful  time,  he  would  have  felt  free 
to  refuse  to  serve,  but  he  could  not  then.  I  can  see 
him  now,  as,  with  his  peculiarly  quiet  but  earnest,  de- 
termined look  he  said,  "  I  must  go  ;  I  cannot  desert 
them  at  such  a  moment." 

I  went  with  him  to  the  State-House  where  the 
gentlemen  from  the  anti-slavery  society  met  the  com- 
mittee of  the  House.  He  listened  with  the  most  in- 
tense interest  to  the  discussion  between  the  Rev.  Mr. 
May  and  Mr.  Lunt,  with  which  the  meeting  com- 
menced, and  the  very  powerful  and  highly  eloquent  vin- 
dication of  their  cause  by  Mr.  Ellis  G.  Loring,  and  to 
forcible  remarks  of  Mr.  Goodell  and  Mr.  Garrison, 
and  then  he  rose.  He  commenced  with  a  series  of 
remarks  upon  the  rights  of  man,  which  the  people  of 
this  country  profess  to  hold  in  the  most  sacred  re- 
gard. Thence  he  proceeded  to  make  some  observa- 
tions upon  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  our  republican 
institutions  ;  and  to  show  that  the  liberty  of  speech 
and  of  the  press  was  essential  to  the  preservation  of 
our  government.  "Whatever,"  said  he,  "will  not 
bear  to  be  examined,  criticized,  spoken  about,  and 
written  about,  must  be  essentially  bad,  and  ought  not  to 
be  perpetuated.  The  attempt  to  stifle  the  voice,  or  to 
muzzle  the  press,  is  a  sure  indication  of  an  attempt  to 
perpetuate  what  ought  to  be  abolished.  Such  an  at- 
tempt is  now  under  consideration.  By  the  exercise 
of  their  natural  and  constitutional  rights  to  speak  and 
print  what  they  think  of  the  evils  and  dangers  of  sla- 
very, the  Abolitionists  are  endeavouring  to  effect  its 
overthrow.  This  the  slave-holders  and  their  abettors 
33* 


390         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

are  determined  to  prevent ;  not  by  showing  them  that 
they  are  mistaken,  and  trying  to  convince  them  that 
slavery  is  a  good  and  not  an  evil ;  but  by  denying  their 
right  to  express  any  opinion  about  it.  They  have 
done  all  in  their  power  to  excite  the  public  odium 
against  the  Abolitionists,  and  to  make  it  to  be  believed, 
that  those  who  denounce  slavery  are  enemies  of  this 
republic,  of  these  free  institutions.  Southern  legisla- 
tors have  offered  rewards  for  their  abduction,  or  for 
their  assassination,  and  are  now  calling  upon  the  North- 
ern legislatures  to  abolish  the  Abolitionists  by  law. 
We  do  not  apprehend,  Gentlemen  of  this  committee, 
that  you  will  advise,  or  that  the  legislature  of  this 
Commonwealth  will  enact,  a  law  making  it  penal  in  the 
citizens  of  Massachusetts  to  denounce  slavery.  But 
we  do  apprehend  that  you  may  recommend,  and  that 
the  legislature  may  pass  resolutions  censuring  the 
Abolitionists.  Now  against  this  measure  we  most 
earnestly  protest.  The  consequences  of  a  legislative 
censure  we  think  might  be  worse  than  a  penal  law. 
We  need  only  look  back  a  few  months  to  see  what 
consequences  we  may  apprehend.  The  outrages 
committed  in  this  city  upon  the  liberty  of  speech,  the 
mob  in  Boston,  was  doubtless  countenanced  by  the 
Faneuil-Hall  meeting.  A  large  number  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Boston  met  there.  The  resolutions  they 
passed  were  such  as  the  Abolitionists  themselves 
would  readily  assent  to,  but  the  preamble  contained  a 
severe  censure,  and  this  we  believe  was  regarded  by 
the  mobocrats  (though  not  so  intended  by  the  meeting 
at  Faneuil  Hall)  as  a  warrant  for  their  outrageous  pro- 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN,  391 

ceedings.  Now,  Gentlemen,  may  we  not  reasonably 
anticipate,  that  similar  consequences  would  follow  the 
expression  by  the  legislature  of  a  similar  condemna- 
tion ?  Would  not  the  mobocrats  again  undertake  to 
execute  the  informal  sentence  of  the  General  Court  ? 
Would  they  not  let  loose  again  their  blood-hounds 
upon  us  ?  " 

"  Stop  Sir,"  said  Mr.  Lunt,  "  you  may  not  pur- 
sue this  course  of  remark,  it  is  insulting  to  this  com- 
mittee, and  to  the  legislature  which  they  represent." 

"  I  have  not  intimated,  Sir,  nor  do  I  believe,"  re- 
plied Dr.  Follen,  "  that  you  or  the  legislature  would 
approve  an  act  of  violence.  I  have  only  endeavoured 
to  show  you,  from  what  has  been,  what  may  be." 
Mr.  Lunt  said,  "  that  the  committee  considered  what 
he  had  said  very  improper,  and  could  not  permit  him 
to  proceed." 

Dr.  Follen  sat  down  ;  an  emotion  of  deep  displeas- 
sure  was  felt  through  the  whole  assembly.  Mr.  May 
rose  to  express  his  dissatisfaction  with  the  way  in 
which  they  were  treated,  and  to  vindicate  Dr.  Follen, 
when  the  chairman  said,  that  it  was  of  no  consequence 
what  he  or  his  associates  thought  of  the  remarks  of  Dr. 
Follen,  that  it  was  for  the  committee  to  decide  upon 
their  propriety,  and  that  it  was  a  matter  of  special 
favor  that  they  were  admitted  at  all  to  this  interview. 
Mr.  May  protested  against  this,  and  reminded  him, 
that  they  had  formally  requested  a  hearing,  and  it  had 
been  granted  them  by  the  House.  After  this  dis- 
cussion with  Mr.  May,  one  of  the  committee  of  the 
legislature  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  Mr.  Lunt's 


392  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

decision,  who  then  said,  that  although  he  was  per- 
suaded the  remarks  of  Dr.  Follen  were  improper,  yet, 
rather  than  that  they  should  go  away  and  say  they  had 
not  had  a  fair  hearing,  he  might  resume  his  discourse. 

Dr.  Follen  again  rose  with  calm  dignity  and  said, 
"  Before  I  proceed,"  Mr.  Chairman,  "  I  must  beg 
again  to  be  distinctly  informed,  what  I  have  said  that 
should  be  considered  disrespectful  to  the  committee, 
or  otherwise  indecorous.  And  I  must  also  be  inform- 
ed whether  our  right  to  speak  here  is  to  be  recognised 
by  the  committee,  or  whether  we  are  still  to  be  con- 
sidered as  being  permitted  to  speak  by  special  favor." 
The  chairman  declined  making  any  satisfactory  ex- 
planation, and  Dr.  Follen  therefore  refused  to  pro- 
ceed. 

A  hum  of  voices  was  then  heard  repeating  "  That 's 
right,"  "  That 's  right,"  bearing  testimony,  that  the 
spirit  of  freedom  was  not  yet  quite  quenched.  After 
a  few  moments  the  committee  of  the  Abolitionists 
made  known  their  resolution  to  send  a  remonstrance  to 
the  legislature,  and  their  hope,  that  hereafter  they 
should  meet  together  with  a  better  understanding  of 
their  relative  positions.  The  Abolitionists  sent  in  a 
remonstrance  to  the  legislature  the  next  day,  which 
was  referred  to  the  same  committee,  and  on  the  8th 
they  were  granted  another  hearing. 

After  Mr.  May  and  Mr.  Sewall  had  addressed  them 
in  vindication  of  the  proceedings  and  principles  of  the 
Abolitionists,  Dr.  Follen  again  rose. 

"  I  have  been,"  he  said,  "eleven  years  a  resident, 
and  six  years  a  citizen,  of  this  republic.  The  prin- 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  393 

ciples  on  which  the  anti-slavery  societies  are  found- 
ed, are  the  same  which  brought  me  to  this  country, 
and  without  the  enjoyment  of  which  I  could  not  wish 
to  remain  in  it.  The  principles  of  freedom,  and,  es- 
pecially, the  right  of  free  discussion,  are  secured  to 
the  citizens  in  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  coun- 
try. The  principle  of  the  freedom  of  speech  is  the 
only  point  really  at  issue  before  the  committee  of  the 
legislature.  It  is  proposed,  through  the  medium  of 
this  committee,  to  recommend  to  the  legislature,  ei- 
ther penal  enactments  or  a  vote  of  censure  against 
the  Abolitionists,  and  for  what  ?  Simply  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  not 
only  without  any  violation  of  the  law,  but  clearly 
within  the  law  and  the  Constitution.  In  no  case  has 
it  been  pretended,  that  aught  but  speaking  and  print- 
ing has  ever  been  attempted  by  Abolitionists  to  ac- 
complish the  objects  they  have  in  view.  We  are  to  be 
censured,  if  at  all,  by  the  legislature,  not  for  what  we 
have  done,  but  for  what  we  believe  and  say  ;  though 
there  is  no  law,  and  no  law  can  be  made  under  the 
Constitution,  against  which  we  have  offended.  We 
have  endeavoured  by  persuasion,  by  argument,  by 
moral  and  religious  appeals,  to  urge  upon  the  nation, 
and  especially  upon  our  Southern  brethren,  the  ne- 
cessity of  freeing  themselves  from  the  stain  of  sla- 
very, which  rests  upon  our  institutions.  This  is  all  we 
have  done,  and  what  we  shall  continue  to  do.  What 
is  there  so  singular  in  this,  that  the  Abolitionists  of 
this  country  should  be  marked  for  legislative  censure  ? 
"  It  is  now  admitted,  that  the  voice  of  the  civil- 


394  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   POLLEN. 

ized  world,  out  of  this  country,  is  with  the  Abolition- 
ists.* The  civilized  nations  of  Europe  have  already 
done,  or  are  fast  doing,  what  must  be  done  in  this 
country  at  some  time  or  other.  Emancipation  must 
come.  Mr.  Jefferson  prophesied  truly,  when  he 
said,  many  years  ago,  that  an  end  to  slavery  must 
come.  Whether  it  shall  come  in  peace,  by  argu- 
ment and  persuasion,  or  in  blood,  as  it  did  in  St.  Do- 
mingo, rests  upon  ourselves  to  determine.  The  Ab- 
olitionists feeling,  in  the  spirit  of  the  prophecy  of 
Jefferson,  that  emancipation  must  come,  seek  to 
bring  it  about  in  peace,  by  rousing  the  country  to  a 
sense  of  the  dangers  growing  out  of  this  institution, 
and  increasing  so  long  as  it  remains  among  us.  If 
we  are  told  we  must  not  discuss  it  now,  we  ask, 
when  will  the  time  come  to  discuss  it  ?  When  will 
the  South  be  better  prepared  than  it  is  now  for  the 
discussion  ?  On  this  point,  I  will  quote  the  language 
of  a  Southern  man  and  a  slave-holder,  Mr.  Summers 
of  Virginia,  in  his  speech  in  the  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia." [Here  Dr.  Follen  quoted  a  passage  from  a 
speech  by  Mr.  Summers,  in  which  he  urges,  that 
now  is  the  time,  that  there  should  be  no  delay  in  meet- 
ing this  great  question  ;  and  mentioned,  that  other  le- 
gislators at  the  South  held  the  same  doctrine,  and 
asked,  why  we  should  not  do  what  they  had  done 
themselves.  And  then  he  went  on  to  say,] 

"  I  would  not  justify  all  the  language  used  by  Ab- 
olitionists in  their  speeches  and  writings.     Whenever 

*  See  Mr.  Preston's  late  speech  in  Congress. 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  395 

they  have  been  wrong,  as  I  thought,  I  have  censured 
them.  I  censure  them  now.  But  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  belong  to  any  party  or  body  of  men,  if  the 
whole  were  to  be  made  responsible  for  every  extrav- 
agant expression,  that  might  be  uttered  by  an  individ- 
ual. And,  especially,  will  the  legislature  attempt 
to  punish  or  censure  freedom  of  speech,  because 
some  may  use  it  improperly  ?  .  We  must,  in  all  such 
cases,  take  the  broad  ground  of  right,  —  freedom  of 
speech  and  freedom  of  opinion,  —  a  right  secured  to 
us  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  se- 
cured to  us  by  the  constitution  of  human  nature.  It 
is  the  only  condition  of  improvement,  the  only  safe- 
guard of  liberty.  It  is  a  right,  which  cannot  be 
taken  from  one  class  of  citizens  without  reaching  all. 
"On  this  point  alone,  freedom  of  speech  under 
the  Constitution,  are  we  assailed.  You  cannot  cen- 
sure freedom  of  speech  in  Abolitionists,  without  pre- 
paring -the  way  to  censure  it  in  any  other  class  of  citi- 
zens, who  may,  for  the  moment,  be  obnoxious  to  the 
majority.  The  question,  therefore,  is  not  whether 
you  will  put  down  the  Abolitionists,  but  it  is  whether 
the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  will  suppress  free- 
dom of  speech  for  ever.  We  say  to  you,  save  your- 
selves as  well  as  us  from  consequences,  which  we 
must  all  bear  alike,  if  on  this  point  we  give  up  the 
freedom  of  discussion.  We  apprehend,  also,  and 
not  without  reason,  personal  consequences  to  our- 
selves, should  any  vote  of  censure  be  passed  by  the 
legislature.  Although  I  feel  that  many  of  my  friends 
have  been  deeply  injured  by  the  unjust  excitement, 


396  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

which  has  been  got  up  against  them,  founded  on  mis- 
representation, yet  I  can  look  at  it  with  the  eye  of  a 
friend  to  the  people.  Even  the  mobs,  which  have 
done  so  much  discredit  to  the  country,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  civilized  world,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to 
believe  have  acted  on  a  delusion,  which  had  for  its 
object,  though  mistaken,  to  preserve  the  union.  They 
believed  we  wanted  to  infringe  the  compact  of  the 
Constitution  by  violent  means,  and  destroy  the  union. 
This  was  their  error  from  the  misrepresentations  made 
so  often  of  the  designs  and  acts  of  the  Abolitionists. 
As  a  friend  of  liberty,  I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  look 
on  the  popular  excitement,  from  which  my  friends 
have  suffered,  in  this  light ;  but  where  'Judge  Lynch' 
has  presided,  I  must  say,  as  I  said  the  other  day," • 

As  soon  as  Dr.  Follen  uttered  these  last  words, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  said,  "I  call  you  to 
order,  Sir.  This  is  not  respectful  to  the  Commit- 
tee." The  call  to  order  excited  universal  surprise. 
Dr.  Follen's  manner  had  been  so  gentle  and  cour- 
teous, that  no  one  could  comprehend  why  he  was 
called  to  order.  He  was  as  much  astonished  as  others, 
and  asked  in  what  he  was  otft  of  order.  He  was  told, 
it  was  for  alluding  to  what  lie  was  called  to  order  for 
the  other  day.  He  replied,  that  he  thought  his  of- 
fence then  had  been  in  taking  it  for  granted,  that  the 
legislature  would  pass  penal  enactments,  or  a  vote  of 
censure,  against  the  Abolitionists  ;  but  he  did  not  un- 
derstand why  he  was  stopped  now. 

Mr.  Lunt  told  him,  that  it  was  his  allusion  to  mobs, 
for  which  he  was  called  to  order  at  the  last  session. 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  397 

"  Am  I,  then,  to  understand,"  replied  Dr.  Follen, 
"  that  speaking  of  mobs  is  disrespectful  to  this  com- 
mittee ?" 

The  chairman  said,  that  his  allusion  was  improper, 
and  would  not  be  permitted. 

"Allow  me,"  said  Dr.  Follen,  "to  have  a  dis- 
tinct understanding  of  the  objection.  I  have  spoken, 
and  was  about  to  speak,  of  the  mobs,  where  '  Lynch 
law'  has  been  practised.  Is  there  any  thing  disre- 
spectful in  that  to  the  committee,  or  the  legisla- 
ture ? "  The  chairman  thought  there  was  ;  but  another 
gentleman  of  the  committee  thought  otherwise,  and 
said,  that  it  was  not  out  of  order. 

Dr.  Follen  then  said,  "  If  I  have  not  the  freedom 
of  speech  to  speak  of  the  evil  consequences,  which 
we,  as  Abolitionists,  apprehend  may  follow  a  legisla- 
tive censure,  which  may  be  used  by  interested  and 
reckless  men  as  a  sanction  of  mobs  to  assail  us,  then 
I  have  nothing  more  to  say.  If  this  is  not  allowed, 
if  we  cannot  point  out  the  direct  or  indirect  tendency 
of  legislative  action,  by  a  vote  of  censure  or  other- 
wise, to  incite  mobs  against  us,  then  I  have  nothing 
more  to  say." 

The  majority  of  the  committee  seemed  to  agree, 
that  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  proceed  ;  but,  after 
a  remonstrance  from  Mr.  May,  and  some  discussion, 
he  was  told  that  he  might  go  on. 

Dr.  Follen  then  resumed  ;  "  I  understand,  that  I 
am  now  allowed  freely  to  speak  of  the  injurious  con- 
sequences, which  we,  as  Abolitionists,  fear  will  be 
the  result  of  legislative  action  against  us.  If  this 

VOL.  i.  34 


398  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

is  not  acceded  to,  then,  in  the  opinion  of  my  friends, 
we  have  not  the  right  of  a  full  hearing,  such  as  is 
granted  in  every  court  of  law,  and  by  every  court  in 
the  Union,  before  proceeding  to  pass  any  act,  that 
may  injuriously  affect  a  class  of  citizens,  or  the  rights 
of  individuals.  If  I  am  mistaken  in  this  view  of  the 
subject,  I  wish  to  be  stopped  in  the  beginning,  as  I 
have  no  inclination  to  do  any  thing,  which  is  contrary 
to  the  decision  of  the  committee." 

The  chairman  said,  he  could  state  his  views  freely. 

"  I  apprehend,  then,"  he  continued,  "from  a  vote 
of  censure  by  the  legislature  upon  the  sentiments  and 
measures  of  the  Abolitionists,  the  same  consequen- 
ces that  have  followed  the  expression  of  opinions 
condemning  the  opinions  of  the  Abolitionists  in  an- 
other place  ;  I  allude  to  the  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
which  was  followed  by  a  mob."  Here  Dr.  Follen 
repeated  what  he  had  said  in  his  first  address,  and  add- 
ed, "  Individuals,  peaceably  and  lawfully  assembled, 
were  assailed  with  violence  and  put  in  peril  of  their 
lives.  The  rights  of  property  were  disregarded. 
The  sign  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society  was  torn  down 
and  destroyed,  and  the  spectacle  was  exhibited,  in  the 
most  enlightened  and  orderly  city  of  the  Union,  of  a 
mob,  in  the  glare  of  day,  leading  an  innocent  man 
through  the  streets  of  Boston,  with  a  halter  about 
him.  Yet  not  a  single  magistrate  or  court  of  justice 
has  taken  cognizance  of  these  acts  of  violence.  I 
believe,  that  those  engaged  in  that  outrage,  are  heart- 
ily sorry  for  the  mob,  and  I  wish  to  bury  it  in  obliv- 
ion. I  take  no  pleasure  in  alluding  to  it,  and  have 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  399 

only  done  so,  as  showing  the  consequences  likely  to 
follow  measures,  which  may  now  be  intended  against 
the  Abolitionists.  Our  view  is  simply,  that  if  a  vote 
of  censure  should  pass  the  legislature,  it  might  be 
followed  by  a  repetition  of  the  same  outrages. 

"  Might  not  the  charge  of  exciting  disunion,  which 
we  affirm  is  unjustly  made  against  us,  with  more  jus- 
tice be  made  against  our  assailants  ?  The  paper  in 
this  city,  in  which  the  mob  was  called  to  march  un- 
der the  banner  of  '  Judge  Lynch,'  formerly  defended 
nullification,  the  fruit  of  which  is  disunion.  There 
has  been  no  call  to  legislate  against  that,  and  no  cen- 
sure is  proposed. 

"  We  do  not  say,  that  the  legislature  will  sanction 
mobs,  or  that  they  mean  to  incite  them  against  us, 
but  that  we  apprehend,  that  mobs  may  follow  any  act 
of  censure  on  their  part,  as  they  followed  the  vote  of 
censure  in  the  Faneuil-Hall  meeting.  It  is  for  the 
wisdom  of  the  legislature  to  determine  whether  the 
Abolitionists,  alone,  are  to  be  endangered  by  mobs. 
A  mob  excited  against  Abolitionists  now,  may  excite 
another  mob  far  more  dangerous  to  others  than  that 
would  be  to  us.  It  is  impossible  to,  prescribe  limits 
to  lawless  acts  of  popular  violence.  If  I  were  a  man 
of  property,  I  should  fear  nothing  so  much  as  a  mob. 
The  laws  especially  protect  property  and  favor  men 
of  property,  and  it  is  only  by  maintaining  the  laws 
against  violence  in  any  form,  that  the  rights  of  prop- 
erty can  be  secured  in  any  community.  A  mob,  got 
up  against  Abolitionists,  may  stir  up  a  mob  against 
property.  We  would  not  rely  on  mobs  ;  we  should 


400  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

condemn  them  as  much  if  against  our  opponents  as 
against  ourselves.  We  would  let  those  rely  on  mobs, 
who  cannot  carry  their  measures  by  argument  and  law. 
We  rely  on  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  to  pro- 
tect us  in  common  with  all  the  citizens  of  the  com- 
monwealth, while  in  the  peaceable  and  lawful  exer- 
cise of  our  right  of  freedom  of  speech.  Why,  then, 
should  we  be  censured  for  doing  what  the  legislature 
cannot  declare  to  be  an  offence  against  law  ?  There 
is  nothing  in  the  Constitution,  which  confers  the  pow- 
er on  the  legislature  to  pass  censure  upon  citizens  in 
the  exercise  of  a  legal  right.  It  would  combine  ju- 
dicial with  legislative  power,  which  the  Constitution 
expressly  forbids.  It  would  condemn  citizens  with- 
out being  tried  for  any  offence,  and  place  them  be- 
fore the  public  as  if  they  were  outlaws,  not  entitled 
to  protection  in  their  persons  or  property.  I  speak 
now  of  the  consequences,  that  are  likely  to  follow  a 
vote  of  censure  of  the  legislature.  This  is  the  only 
light  in  which  I  view  the  acts  of  popular  violence, 
that  have  taken  place,  and  in  which  I  wish  to  al- 
lude to  them.  I  do  it  with  pain  and  regret,  but 
from  necessity.  Our  aim  is  not  to  reproach  any  one  ; 
and  we  only  seek,  in  using  this  argument,  to  impress 
upon  the  legislature,  what  we  regard  as  a  highly  im- 
portant reason,  why  they  should  not  adopt  a  measure, 
the  tendency  of  which  is  so  obviously  to  incite  to 
acts  of  violence  against  us. 

"  Our  wish,  therefore,  is,  and  we  respectfully  re- 
quest the  legislature,  that  no  action  may  be  had  on 
the  subject ;  since  the  existing  laws  are  sufficient  to 
meet  every  emergency." 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         401 

Dr.  Follen  thus  had  at  last  the  satisfaction  of  be- 
ing allowed  to  express  his  views  without  further  oppo- 
sition to  himself  personally;  but  he  had  the  pain,  di- 
rectly afterwards,  of  hearing  his  colleague  stopped 
in  his  address,  and  then  ordered  to  sit  down.  Mr. 
May,  also,  was  silenced  by  the  chairman.  When 
rudely  spoken  to  himself,  he  had  been  calm  ;  but  this 
insulting  tone  to  others,  he  told  me,  severely  tried 
his  temper.  I  saw  the  glow  of  indignation  in  his 
face.  A  strong  feeling  of  disapprobation  was  mani- 
fested by  the  spectators  ;  two  gentlemen,  not  belong- 
ing to  the  Anti-slavery  Society,  spoke  with  eloquence 
and  power  for  the  injured  cause  of  freedom,  and  ex- 
pressed the  hope,  that  the  committee  would  permit 
the  gentlemen  to  proceed.  A  voice  in  the  gallery 
cried  "Amen";  but  the  committee  broke  up,  and 
the  chairman  retired.  Some  members  of  the  legis- 
lature came  to  Dr.  Follen,  and  told  him,  that  they 
hoped  that  he  would  not  think,  that  he  would  have 
been  treated  in  such  a  manner,  had  he  appeared  be- 
fore the  House,  instead  of  their  committee. 

There  were  some  of  my  friends,  who  thought  that 
I  should  feel  very  badly  at  seeing  my  husband  one  of 
this  little  company  of  insulted  men  ;  but  as  he  stood 
there,  battling  for  freedom  of  speech  in  this  free  land, 
surrounded  by  the  rich,  and  the  powerful,  and  the  fa- 
vorites of  the  world,  and  condemned  by  them  all  for 
it,  I  would  not  have  had  him  exchange  positions  with 
any  one  of  them.  The  unruffled  calmness  of  his 
soul  took  possession  of  mine,  and  1  felt,  as  he  did, 
that  what  had  passed  that  day,  would  yet  be  felt 
34* 


402  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

throughout  the  Union.  Dr.  Follen's  appearance 
through  the  whole  of  this  memorable  occasion  is  so 
justly  described  by  his  eloquent  eulogist,  Mr.  May, 
before  the  Anti-slavery  Society,  that  I  quote  the  pas- 
sage from  his  discourse. 

"  His  conduct  on  that  memorable  occasion  com- 
manded your  admiration.  It  was  worthy  of  himself. 
Standing  before  that  committee,  he  evinced  the  same 
calm,  invincible  -spirit  of  resistance  to  wrong,  that  had 
animated  him  when  he  withstood,  at  Basle,  the  de- 
mands of  the  Allied  Sovereigns  of  Europe.  In  both 
cases  it  was  principle,  that  he  contended  for.  In 
both  it  was  the  violation  of  principle,  that  he  chiefly 
dreaded. 

"  A  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
might  not  be  so  august  a  presence  as  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance ;  but,  in  his  regard,  the  occasion  which  called 
him  to  the  Hall  of  our  Representatives,  was  as  much 
more  momentous  than  the  occasion  on  which  he  with- 
stood the  Allied  Sovereigns  at  Basle,  as  the  infringe- 
ment of  the  liberties  of  speech  by  a  democratic  gov- 
ernment would  be  more  disastrous  to  the  cause  of 
freedom,  than  any  encroachment  on  human  rights  by 
absolute  monarcbs.  We  were  all  impressed  by  his  in- 
tent look,  his  earnest,  solemn  manner.  And  we  can 
never  cease  to  be  grateful  to  him,  for  his  pertinacity 
in  maintaining  his  own  rights  against  the  aggressive 
overbearance  of  the  chairman  of  that  committee." 

A  most  bitter  as  well  as  vulgar  attack  was  made 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  403 

upon  him  in  one  of  the  Boston  newspapers  ;  he  heard 
of  it,  but  he  did  not  happen  to  read  it.  A  few  days 
after  this,  he  went  to  an  evening  party  made  for  Har- 
riet Martineau.  He  knew  that  the  friends  who  had 
invited  us,  and  many  whom  he  should  there  meet,  did 
not  approve  of  the  part  he  had  taken  with  the  Aboli- 
tionists. He  went,  rather  expecting  cold  civility  ; 
it  was  not  so  ;  he  was  received  with  that  courtesy 
and  kindness,  which  his  presence  seemed  always  to 
awaken  in  every  heart.  But  there  was  one  there, 
who  hastened  eagerly  from  a  distant  part  of  the  room 
as  soon  as  he  entered,  and,  grasping  his  hand  most 
cordially,  said,  "Do  not  mind  the  shameful  things 
they  have  said  against  you  in  that  infamous  paper. 
Go  on  courageously  ;  you  have  done  well.  It  is  the 
cause  of  humanity,  of  truth,  of  God,  that  you  are 
maintaining  ;  it  will  yet  prevail."  Little  did  Dr. 
Bowditch  know  how  precious  these  words  were  to 
him,  to  whom  they  were  spoken.  Dr.  Follen's  whole 
soul  was  moved  by  them  ;  he  had  proved,  that  he 
could  give  up  parents,  dear  friends,  home, — nay,  risk 
his  life,  for  principle.  But  never  did  there  live  a  man, 
by  whom  all  the  joys  of  life,  the  respect  of  the  wise 
and  good,  the  love  of  the  meanest  being,  were  more 
justly  estimated  than  by  him.  And  therein  did  he 
prove  his  allegiance  to  truth  and  duty, — that  he  delib- 
erately laid  upon  their  altar,  that  which  he  truly  loved 
and  knew  how  to  value. 


CHAPTER    XVII 


Dr.  Follen  parts  with  his  Pupils.  —  Goes  to  Stockbridge.  —  Com- 
mences his  Work  on  Psychology. —  He  takes  a  Journey  to  the 
West.  —  Preaches  at  Chicago. —  Visits  Mr.  Rapp.  —  Returns 
to  Stockbridge.  —  Letter  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  Publication 
of  "  Religion  and  the  Church."  —  Letter  to  his  Brother.  —  Ac- 
cepts an  Invitation  to  preach  in  New  York. 

IN  April,  1836,  Dr.  Follen  was  again  thrown  alto- 
gether upon  his  own  resources.  He  had  relinquished 
his  comfortable  establishment ;  he  had  no  fixed  home. 
No  employment  was  offered  him.  He  was  left  to 
seek  the  means  of  subsistence  for  himself  and  family. 
But  we  were  now  out  of  debt ;  and,  though  our  income 
was  very  small,  it  was  possible  to  live  upon  it.  We 
determined  to  sell  all  our  furniture,  except  what  was 
necessary  to  furnish  a  parlour  and  bedroom,  and  go 
to  some  country  town  where  lodgings  were  cheap. 
Dr.  Follen  drew  a  sigh  over  his  books  and  papers  as 
he  consigned  them  to  the  boxes  in  which  they  were 
to  remain  till  we  again  had  a  place  where  they  might 
be  arranged  for  use ;  but  he  uttered  no  complaint ;  on 
the  contrary,  his  mind  immediately  fixed  upon  the  ad- 
vantage and  pleasure  he  would  derive  from  this  period 
of  leisure.  He  had  long  cherished  in  his  mind  the 
project  of  writing  an  elementary  work  on  Psychology, 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  405 

and  he  wished  much  to  give  his  views  at  large  upon 
religion,  and  the  true  idea  of  a  church.  He  had,  in 
his  own  country,  and  in  this,  often  written  down  his 
thoughts  upon  these  subjects,  and  made  preparations 
for  a  systematic  treatise  upon  them  ;  but  had  never 
had  sufficient  leisure  to  prosecute  his  plan  ;  now,  in 
the  midst  of  the  beautiful  scenery  of  Stockbridge, 
where  we  had  taken  lodgings,  and  among  the  kind 
friends  who  would  welcome  us  there,  he  hoped  to  be 
able  to  accomplish  this  favorite  wish  of  his  heart. 
After  passing  the  month  of  April  in  Boston,  at  my 
brother's,  we  bade  them  and  our  other  friends  farewell, 
knowing  not  when  we  should  meet  again,  and  went  to 
Stockbridge,  where  we  were  joined  by  our  friend 
Harriet  Martineau.  Dr.  Follen  immediately  com- 
menced his  treatise  "on  Religion  and  the  Church"  ;  it 
was  his  habit  to  devote  the  morning  to  study  and 
writing,  and  the  afternoons  to  social  pleasures ;  and 
thus  we  passed  the  month  of  May  together,  enjoying 
the  best  and  purest  pleasures  that  this  life  can  give. 
On  the  first  of  June  we  set  out  with  Harriet  Mar- 
tineau and  some  other  friends  on  a  journey  to  the 
West. 

Dr.  Follen  had  always  determined  that  he  would 
take  the  first  good  opportunity  to  visit  Niagara  Falls, 
and  other  interesting  parts  of  our  country  ;  and  he 
thought  that  he  should  never  have  so  free  a  time  to  go, 
or  so  agreeable  a  company  of  friends  to  enhance  the 
pleasure,  as  now. 

This  journey  was  a  great  pleasure  to  him.  His 
enjoyment  of  the  glories  and  beauties  of  the  visible 


406  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

creation,  was  deep  and  constant  ;  it  was  a  part  of  that 
worship,  that  was  ever  arising  from  his  soul  to  the 
Author  of  nature.  He  would  always  step  aside,  when 
he  was  walking,  in  order  to  avoid  crushing  the  meanest 
flower  in  his  path.  He  looked  up  at  the  stars  nightly 
with  the  same  devout  admiration  as  if  they  were  but 
just  hung  in  the  unfathomable  depths  of  the  heavens  ; 
he  rejoiced  at  the  sight  of  the  rising  sun  every  new 
day,  as  if  it  were  but  just  created,  and  he  was  seeing 
it  for  the  first  time.  Nothing  beautiful  or  good,  nothing 
that  he  truly  loved,  ever  lost  its  charm  to  him.  What 
then  must  have  been  his  delight  to  contemplate  the 
boundless  prairie,  smiling  and  waving  with  flowers  as 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach  ;  the  solemn  loveliness  of  our 
majestic  lakes,  and  the  unutterable  glories  of  Niagara. 
His  joy  was  intense.  He  said  that  his  first  impres- 
sions of  Niagara,  in  consequence  of  his  being  a  little 
near-sighted,  were  inadequate  ;  that  he  thought  it 
should  be  deeply  studied  ;  that  every  hour  of  his 
visit  to  this  magnificent  shrine  in  God's  great  temple 
revealed  new  glories,  new  beauties  to  him  ;  he  ques- 
tioned whether  any  one  view  of  the  Alps  had  moved 
him  so  much.  The  other  members  of  the  party  had 
occasional  fluctuations  of  health  or  spirits,  but  he  was 
ever  well,  ever  serenely  cheerful.  At  Trenton  Falls, 
where  we  passed  a  day,  he  carried  his  little  boy,  then 
only  six  years  old,  to  all  the  most  difficult  and  dan- 
gerous places,  and,  after  having  put  him  in  a  place  of 
safety,  he  would  return  to  help  any  one  of  the  party 
who  needed  his  assistance  over  the  narrow,  slippery 
paths,  to  fall  from  which  would  have  been  certain 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  4Q7 

death.  When  we  had  all  safely  climbed  up  to  the 
highest  fall,  some  one  of  the  party  said,  "  How  re- 
freshing a  draught  of  milk  would  be."  In  a  moment 
he  was  on  his  way  back  to  the  hotel,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  we  saw  him  coming  slowly  around  the  pro- 
jecting rocks,  holding  the  pitcher  of  milk  in  one  hand 
over  the  precipice,  while  with  the  other  he  supported 
himself  in  the  difficult  path  he  trod.  Soon  he  was 
safely  by  us.  "  There,"  he  said,  with  a  triumphant 
look  of  pleasure,  as  he  offered  us  the  pitcher  full  of  milk, 
"  I  have  not  spilt  one  drop."  I  mention  this  trifling 
act,  because  it  was  a  part  of  his  character  to  love  to 
perform  such  little  acts  of  kindness,  as  perfectly  as 
if  they  were  great  deeds  for  the  world  to  hear  of. 

When  we  were  at  Chicago,  where  we  passed  some 
days  among  its  hospitable  inhabitants,  he  was  asked 
by  some  friends  to  address  them  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  Unitarians  had  no  church,  but  they  were  desirous 
of  forming  a  religious  society.  They  assembled  in 
an  unfinished  room  in  a  hotel,  that  was  then  partly 
built,  and,  at  their  request,  Dr.  Follen  addressed 
them.  He  spoke  to  them  without  any  previous  prep- 
aration, but  most  eloquently,  upon  the  reality  of  un- 
seen things  ;  upon  the  religious  nature  of  man  ;  upon 
his  tendency  to  the  infinite  in  all  he  did,  and  thought, 
and  felt  ;  and  upon  the  proof  we  find,  from  these 
facts,  that  he  was  made  for  immortality.  The  people 
were  so  much  interested  and  affected  by  his  preach- 
ing, that  they  immediately  had  a  meeting,  and  twenty 
thousand  dollars  in  land  or  money  was  subscribed  on 
the  spot  towards  erecting  a  church,  and  he  was  urged 
to  stay  or  return  and  preach  to  them. 


408  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

On  our  way  back,  we  passed  a  night  and  part  of  a 
day  at  Economy,  the  settlement  established  by  Mr. 
Rapp,  on  the  Ohio,  eighteen  miles  below  Pittsburg. 
It  was  the  particular  desire  of  Dr.  Follen  to  remain 
here  long  enough  to  obtain  all  the  facts  that  he  could, 
with  regard  to  Mr.  Rapp  and  his  community.  Some 
of  these  are  mentioned  in  Harriet  Martineau's  "  So- 
ciety in  America."  He  was  satisfied  from  what  he 
saw,  that  the  community,  by  their  labor,  earned  not 
only  enough  to  support  them  in  comfort,  and  even 
luxury,  but  that  there  must  be  a  large  surplus.  He 
asked  to  see  Mr.  Rapp,  and  sent  him  his  card,  but 
received  for  answer,  that  he  was  going  to  ride.  The 
superintendent  showed  him  every  thing,  and  in- 
vited him  to  walk  in  the  garden.  We  lingered 
so  long  in  this  beautiful  garden,  that  when  Mr. 
Rapp  came  out  to  walk  in  it,  after  his  ride,  he  and 
Dr.  Follen  met.  He  was  the  finest  looking  old  man 
I  ever  saw.  He  looked  like  a  Prophet ;  his  white 
curling  locks  fell  gracefully  on  his  shoulders  ;  he  must 
have  been  more  than  six  feet  in  height,  and  he  had  an 
eye  like  an  eagle's.  When  Dr.  Follen  expressed  his 
great  pleasure  at  the  abundance  of  the  crops,  and  the 
proof  which  his  success  gave  of  the  advantage,  in 
respect  to  economy,  of  such  a  community,  he  said, 
coldly,  "Yes,  it  was  very  well."  Dr.  Follen  ex- 
pressed the  wish  that  others  might  imitate  such  an  ex- 
ample, and  reap  advantage  from  his  experiment. 
Rapp  answered)  that  their  prosperity  arose  entirely 
from  their  separation  from  the  world  and  the  world's 
people.  Dr.  Follen  replied,  "  that  Jesus  did  not 


LIFE    DP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  409 

separate  himself  from  his  fellow-men  ;  that  he  lived 
in  the  midst  of  the  world,  among  sinners ;  and  that  he 
thought  that  he  was  the  true  model  for  reformers."  The 
color  mounted  in  the  old  man's  face  ;  his  fresh  and 
yet  youthful  complexion  was  actually  red  with  dis- 
pleasure ;  he  looked  away,  and  made  no  answer.  Dr. 
Follen  then  asked,  if  this  community  did  not  earn 
more  than  they  consumed  ?  Mr.  Rapp  made  an  eva- 
sive answer,  and  presently  he  said  that  he  must  go 
into  the  house  (which  was  close  by)  to  take  some  re- 
freshment after  his  ride.  He  did  not  ask  us  to  go  in, 
but  left  us  in  the  heat  at  mid-day  ;  it  was  evident  he 
disliked  the  close  questions  of  his  countryman.  These 
two  men  formed  a  striking  contrast ;  Mr.  Rapp  looked 
as  if  he  was  made,  and  was  resolved,  to  command  ;  but 
his  quick,  dark,  piercing  eye  fell  repeatedly  beneath  the 
quiet,  transparent,  and  fearless  gaze  of  Dr.  Follen. 

The  last  day  but  one  of  this  happy  journey  we  passed 
at  Philadelphia.  It  was  Sunday.  Dr.  Follen  preach- 
ed in  the  evening  for  Mr.  Furness.  His  address  was 
extempore.  It  so  happened,  that  his  subject  led  him 
to  speak  of  slavery.  He  gave  his  views  simply  and 
fully,  and  with  that  energy  and  warmth  of  feeling 
with  which  he  always  preached.  It  so  happened, 
that  a  gentleman  was  present  who  was  an  acquaint- 
ance of  ours,  and  who  was  a  very  large  slave-owner. 
A  mutual  friend,  who  feared  that  he  might  be  offended, 
remarked  to  this  gentleman  after  church,  "  You  see 
our  friend  is  quite  an  Abolitionist  ;  what  do  you  think 
of  his  sermon  ?  "  "  Dr.  Follen,"  he  replied,  "  speaks 
in  such  a  spirit,  that  no  man  can  be  offended  with 

VOL.  i.  35 


410  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

him."  During  the  service  this  man  had  taken  par- 
ticular care  of  our  little  boy,  who  was  at  church,  and 
appeared  unwell. 

The  next  day  we  went  to  New  York  ;  it  was  the 
sad  day  of  parting  with  our  friend  Harriet  Martineau. 
We  spoke  of  the  probability  of  our  meeting  again  in 
this  world.  Dr.  Follen  thought  we  should.  He  al- 
ways hoped,  he  always  believed,  that  his  best  wishes 
would  be  fulfilled.  He  told  her  that  her  greatest  trial 
would  arise  from  those  who  had  hitherto  been  her 
friends,  and  who,  not  being  prepared  to  go  along  with 
her  in  all  her  views,  would,  if  she  was  faithful  to  them, 
either  wax  cold,  or  become  her  enemies.  We  left  her 
in  New  York,  and  returned  to  Stockbridge  with  hearts 
full  of  gratitude  for  the  pure  pleasures  we  had  tasted, 
and  all  the  blessings  we  had  experienced  ;  though  sad- 
dened with  the  thought,  that  we  perhaps  "  should  see 
her  face  no  more." 

Soon  after  our  return,  Dr.  Follen  wrote  to  her  the 
following  letters. 

"Stockbridge,  July  20th,  1836. 
"  Mr  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  What  Eliza  has  written,  under  frequent  interrup- 
tions, expresses  all  I  wish  to  say  to  you  at  this  time. 
Persuaded  as  I  am,  that  every  true  sorrow,  as  well  as 
every  true  joy,  has  its  appointed  ministry  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  soul,  I  would  not,  if  I  could,  cast  off  the 
grief  of  separation  from  you  with  all  its  painful  fresh- 
ness and  prospective  continuance.  It  will  take  a  long 
time  to  reconcile  our  eyes  to  your  absence,  and  to 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES   POLLEN.  411 

wean  our  habitual  expectations  from  this  cherished 
dependence  on  having  you  take  a  share  in  all  the  great 
and  little  interests,  joys,  and  troubles  of  our  every- 
day life.  But  to  help  us  bear  our  separation  from 
you,  we  still  have  the  blessed  remembrance  of  what 
your  presence  has  been  to  us,  and,  what  is  more  than 
all,  the  knowledge  of  what  you  are  to  our  immortal 
hearts.  Our  intercourse,  the  shortness  of  which  has 
been  more  than  made  up  by  its  frankness  and  inti- 
macy, has  brought  us  to  a  perfect  understanding  of 
each  other's  principles  and  objects,  and  a  perfect  trust 
in  each  other's  sincerity,  and  must  lead  us  uncon- 
sciously or  intentionally  to  a  constant  cooperation  for 
the  same  great  purposes  of  life.  What  broader  and 
deeper  foundation  can  there  be  for  the  union  of  indi- 
viduals, than  this  mutual  reliance  on  the  self-sacrificing 
devotion  of  each  to  the  vital  interests  of  all. 

"  And  now  once  more  farewell,  dear  Harriet. 
Kind  wishes  and  fervent  prayers  follow  you  to  your 
native  land  ;  wherever  you  may  be,  our  love,  our 
hearts  will  ever  be  with  you. 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

"August  16th,  1836. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  Your  last  letters  from  New  York  were  so  grate- 
ful, so  painfully  dear  to  us,  that  we  know  not  how  to 
thank  you.  Our  hearts  were  pressed  down  by  the 
greatness  of  our  loss,  but  your  words  of  love  raised 
them,  by  making  us  feel  how  much  greater  that  is  which 


412         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

we  cannot  lose.  Our  best  comfort  must  flow  from 
continuing,  as  far  as  we  can,  that  intimate  intercourse 
in  which  our  souls  have  lived,  without  any  of  those 
prudential  restraints  by  which  all  are  tormented,  while 
so  few  are  free-hearted  enough  to  throw  them  off. 
You  say,  '  When  will  the  spiritual  "  live  and  let  live  " 
be  understood  and  practised  ?  '  A  conversation  that  I 
had  yesterday,  convinces  me,  that  that  blessed  time 
has  not  yet  arrived. 

I  have  not  yet  told  you,  that  I  have  refused  the  offer 
which  Mr.  Dewey  made  to  me,  in  the  name  of  the 
committee  of  his  society,  to  become  minister  at  large 
in  New  York.  My  chief  reason  was,  that  I  think  my 
previous  studies  and  experience  enable  me  to  be  more 
useful  in  another  sphere,  though  there  could  not  be 
one  more  exalted  in  my  eyes. 

"  My  first  tract  on  '  Religion  and  the  Church,'  is  at 
last  actually  ready  for  the  press.  I  shall  send  you  a 
copy,  and  one  to  your  brother,  as  soon  as  it  is 
printed. 

"  And  now,  my  dear  friend,  I  leave  the  rest  of 
this  paper  to  Eliza.  I  cannot  but  feel,  that  the  quill 
is,  after  all,  a  poor  substitute  for  the  tube.*  I  an-* 
ticipate  with  joyful  hope  your  first  lines  from  your 
native  land.  Your  brother's  letter  was  a  most  wel- 
come visiter,  full  of  interesting  information,  which  I 
could  have  received  only  from  him,  and  of  just  and 
elevated  sentiments,  for  which  I  feel  most  truly  grate- 


*  Alluding  to  the  ear-trumpet,  which  Harriet  Martineau  always 
used. 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  413 

ful  to  him.     I  shall  write  to  him  again  when  I  send 
my  tract. 

"  Farewell,  dear  Harriet ;  our  hearts'  earnest  wishes 
and  prayers  are  .ever  with  you. 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

The  little  tract  which  Dr.  Follen  speaks  of  in  his 
letter,  and  which  he  had  labored  at  with  great  zeal  and 
industry  since  his  return  to  Stockbridge,  did  not 
draw  the  attention  that  he  hoped  it  would.  It  was 
favorably  noticed  by  the  editor  of  the  "  Boston  Quar- 
terly Review,"  and  by  some  others  ;  but,  though  it  was 
a  small  and  unexpensive  work,  and  there  was  only  a 
small  edition  of  it,  a  sufficient  number  of  copies  to 
pay  the  cost  of  printing  was  not  sold.  The  work  was 
printed  at  his  own  expense.  He  thought  the  subject 
was  so  deeply  interesting,  that  he  should  be  sure  of  a 
certain  number  of  readers  ;  he  was  preparing  the 
second  number,  and  his  heart  was  full  of  hope  about 
it.  When  he  discovered  his  mistake,  he  felt  disheart- 
ened ;  he  left  the  second  number  unfinished,  and 
turned  his  attention  to  his  "  Elements  of  Psycholo- 
gy," which  he  hoped  to  make  a  popular  work. 

The  first  number  of  "  Religion  and  the  Church," 
and  the  second,  just  as  he  left'it,  will  be  found  in  this 
collection  of  his  writings,  and,  I  cannot  but  think,  will 
vindicate  his  opinion,  that  they  were  worthy  of  more 
attention  than  they  received. 

The  sweetness  and  meekness,  with  which  Dr.  Follen 
bore  such  trials,  seemed  to  turn  every  failure  into  a 
35* 


414  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

triumph.  He  was  disappointed,  he  was  sorry,  and 
then  he  dismissed  the  subject  and  went  on  to  some- 
thing else.  He  was  soon  entirely  engaged  in  his 
Psychology.  There  was  no  occupation  so  truly  de-  ' 
lighiful  to  him  as  this.  It  seemed  his  true  element. 
If  I  saw  him  looking  unusually  happy,  and  as  if  his 
soul  was  all  alive,  and  he  was  writing  with  great  ear- 
nestness, I  knew  that  he  was  engaged  upon  his  favorite 
work,  "  the  Science  of  the  Soul."  He  wrote  during 
this  summer  an  article  for  the  "  Anti-slavery  Quarter- 
ly Review."  He  also  gave  some  lessons  in  Ger- 
man, to  some  friends  who  were  anxious  to  receive  in- 
struction from  him.  For  this  he  took  his  afternoons ; 
his  mornings  were  faithfully  devoted  to  hard  study. 
On  Sunday  afternoons,  at  the  request  of  a  friend, 
he  met  at  her  house  a  small  assembly  of  neighbours 
and  friends,  who  wished  him  to  lead  their  devotions. 
Who  that  heard  him  will  ever  forget  the  inspiring 
words  that  he  spoke  to  them  at  those  holy  times,  the 
new  interest  which  he  gave  to  the  written  word  of 
God  by  his  manner  of  reading  it,  or  the  outpourings 
of  his  pure  soul  in  prayer,  carrying  away  every  heart 
captive  that  listened  to 'him  in  that  consecrated  room. 
Who  ever  heard  him  utter  the  words  "  Heavenly 
Father,"  that  did  not  feel  that  it  was  the  devoted 
child,  declaring  from  the  depths  of  his  heart  his  filial 
love  and  trust  ? 

Those  who  have  been  impressed  with  the  fervor 
and  tenderness  of  Dr.  Follen's  devotional  feelings, 
may  be  surprised  that  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  family 
prayer,  and  that  he  seldom  asked  a  blessing  at  his 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  415 

meals.  He  thought  these  frequent  and  stated  prayers 
often  mere  forms.  He  said,  "  Why  should  we  se- 
lect the  time  when  we  eat,  particularly,  for  prayer  ? 
I  am  more  disposed  to  thank  God  for  an  elevating 
conversation  with  a  friend,  than  for  a  good  dinner." 
When  we  were  alone  together,  he  thought,  that  usu- 
ally an  uttered  prayer  was  unnatural.  "  Are  we  not 
praying, "  he  would  say,  "  all  the  time,  when  we  are 
trying  to  do  and  suffer  the  will  of  God  ?  We  have 
been  talking  of  his  purposes  at  this  time,  and  asking 
our  own  hearts  and  each  other,  what  is  his  will  ;  and 
now  would  it  not  seem  formal  to  make  a  set  prayer  to 
Him,  who  sees  the  heart  ?  I  fear  these  forms." 
When  our  family  was  larger,  and  consisted  of  a  variety 
of  characters,  then  he  loved  to  call  us  all  to  prayer 
together,  because  he  hoped  to  excite  devotional  feel- 
ings in  hearts  which  wanted  awakening  ;  but,  even  in 
this  case,  he  watched  against  the  deadening  influence 
of  forms. 

When  he  was  called  upon  to  ask  a  blessing,  his 
words  were  so  simple  and  characteristic,  that  I  give 
them  as  I  remember  them  ;  — "  We  thank  thee, 
Heavenly  Father,  for  our  daily  bread.  We  thank 
thee  for  the  friends,  with  whom  we  break  it.  We 
thank  thee  for  the  bread  of  life,  and  the  cup  of  salva- 
tion, brought  to  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  thy  dear  Son. 
Amen." 

This  summer  had  been  a  period  of  uncommon  en- 
joyment to  us.  The  present  was  too  happy  to  allow 
room  for  anxiety  for  the  future.  A  letter,  which  he 
wrote  to  my  brother  and  sister,  upon  hearing  that 


416  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

they  had  named  a  child  for  him,  shows  the  state  of 
his  feelings. 

"  Stockbridge,  September  18th,  1836. 
"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER  AND  SISTER, 

"  As  for  Susan's  closing  suggestion,  that  I  had  be- 
come too  proud  of  my  name,  it  is  most  true  ;  and  it 
is  you  that  have  made  me  so.  But  as  for  supposing, 
that  I  should  be  the  first  proud  man  that  quarrelled 
with  the  feather  in  his  cap,  —  in  this  she  is  most  egre- 
giously  mistaken.  I  thank  you  for  this  proof  of  your 
affectionate  regard  for  me  ;  and,  if  your  engrafting  a 
foreign  name  upon  this  native  stock  should  have  any 
effect  upon  the  fruits  of  the  nursling,  I  hope,  that  in 
his  case  as  well  as  in  mine,  any  want  of  native  flavor 
and  sweetness  may  be  made  up  by  the  good  opinion 
of  those,  who  are  willing  to  try  and  acquire  a  taste 
for  them. 

"  I  heartily  wish,  that  he  may  be  spared  the  disap- 
pointments of  the  earlier,  and  that  he  may  deserve 
the  success  that  has  attended  the  latter,  part  of  the 
life  of  him,  whojge  name  he  bears  ;  but,  above  all, 
that  neither  success  may  bribe,  nor  disappointment 
deter,  him  from  the  line  of  conduct  marked  out  by  his 
own  conscience.  I  know,  that,  to  you,  this  child  is 
a  source  not  only  of  earthly  joy  ;  that  you  look  up- 
on him  as  a  brother  to  him,  who  is  born  into  another 
world,  as  well  as  to  the  little  brothers  and  sisters 
who  welcomed  his  coming.  It  is  this  faith,  which 
binds  me  to  the  child,  and  to  you,  his  parents,  more 
intimately  than  my  name  and  our  family  connexion, 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         417 

from  which  I  have  constantly  derived  so  much  un- 
mixed pleasure. 

"  This  month  has,  indeed,  been  full  of  sunshine 
to  me.  It  has  brought  together  my  own  birthday,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  little  one  who  bears  my  name,  and 
Eliza's  and  my  wedding-day,  which  has  been  cele- 
brated here  in  Stockbridge  with  dancing  and  poetry. 
But  I  must  close  ;  the  mail  will  not  wait  for  the  detail 
of  all  we  have  enjoyed.  Eliza  and  Charley  join  in 
love  to  you  both,  and  the  children. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"C.  FOLLEN. 
"MR.  AND  MRS.  EDWARD  CABOT." 

Dr.  Follen  was  so  much  pleased  with  his  residence 
in  Stockbridge,  where  we  had  so  many  dear  friends 
around  us,  that  we  had  resolved  to  pass  the  winter  there. 
We  found  that,  with  a  very  strict  economy,  we  could 
live  upon  our  small  income,  and  the  leisure  of  a  life 
in  the  country  favored  his  dear  and  long  cherished 
plan  of  completing  the  work  he  had  commenced  on 
the  "  Science  of  the  Soul."  But  a  friend,  who  had 
heard  him  preach  at  Stockbridge,  mentioned  him  to 
one  of  the  committee  for  supplying  the  pulpit  of  the 
First  Unitarian  Church  in  New  York.  He  was  in- 
vited to  preach  two  Sundays  upon  trial,  which  he 
did,  leaving  us,  in  the  mean  while,  at  Stockbridge. 
The  people  were  so  much  pleased  with  him,  that  they 
requested  him  to  prolong  his  engagement,  and  he  was 
told,  that  there  was  no  doubt  that  the  Society  would 
invite  him  to  remain,  at  least,  for  the  coming  winter  ; 


418          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

he  therefore  returned  for  his  family.  With  heavy 
hearts  we  bade  farewell  to  our  friends,  and  to  dear, 
peaceful  Stockbridge,  where  we  had  enjoyed  so 
much,  and  where  love  and  kindness  had  ever  attended 
us,  to  go  to  a  city  of  strangers. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


Dr.  Follen  is  ordained  in  Boston.  —  Returns  to  New  York. — Let- 
ters to  Harriet  Martineau. —  Letters  to  Friends.  —  Engages  to 
preach  for  Six  Months  in  New  York.  —  Renews  his  Engage- 
ment at  New  York  for  One  Year.  —  Goes  to  Washington. 

JUST  after  we  arrived  at  New  York,  we  received 
from  our  friend  Harriet  Martineau,  a  complete  copy 
of  her  "  Illustrations  of  Political  Economy."  The 
following  lines  show  Dr.  Follen's  sense  of  the  value 
of  this  beautiful  work. 

"New  York,  October  17th,  1836. 
"  DEAR  HARRIET, 

"  We  have  just  received  your  sweet,  affectionate 
letter,  with  the  beautiful  present  and  your  eye-blind- 
ing love-messages.  These  works  are  precious  to  the 
world  for  what  they  have  done,  and  still  more  as  an 
earnest  of  greater  things,  which  you  are  called  to  do. 
They  are  inexpressibly  dear  to  us  as  an  expression  of 
your  friendship,  a  treasure,  which,  I  hope,  we  shall 
never  feel  tempted  to  keep  laid  up  in  the  napkin  of 
our  own  selfishness.  We  would  rather  keep  it,  as 
the  German  travelling  mechanics  do  their  piece  of 
gold,  at  the  bottom  of  their  purse,  for  evil  days  when 


f 

420  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

we  feel  beggared  by  the  desertion  from  principle  of 
those  around  us,  or  rather  as  a  capital,  from  which  you 
have  a  right  to  expect  from  us  the  highest  interest. 

"  I  have  just  heard,  that  the  committee  of  Mr. 
Ware's  parish  have  resolved  to  ask  me  to  spend  the 
winter  there.  I  do  not  know  the  terms  yet,  but  I 
suppose  they  will  be  such  as  I  shall  accept,  and  I  re- 
joice at  the  great  sphere  that  seems  opening  before 
me.  Ever  affectionately  yours, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

In  a  journal,  which  Dr.  Follen  kept  during  the  first 
part  of  our  residence  in  New  York,  I  find,  that  the 
first  sermon  he  preached  there,  was  from  2  Corinthi- 
ans, iv.  13,  —  "While  we  look  not  at  the  things 
which  are  seen,"  &sc.  He  spoke  without  notes,  and, 
as  I  was  told,  with  great  power  and  eloquence.  Few 
men  could  speak  with  the  realizing  conviction,  that 
he  could,  upon  such  a  theme.  All  felt,  that  he  spoke 
of  what  he  truly  believed  ;  that  he  set  before  them 
truths,  by  which  he  lived,  and  for  which  he  stood 
ready,  if  necessary,  to  die. 

As  soon  as  a  satisfactory  arrangement  was  made 
between  him  and  the  trustees  of  the  Society,  and  our 
lodgings  were  engaged,  he  came  to  Boston  to  be  or- 
dained, in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  administer 
the  ordinances.  This  ceremony  took  place  on  the 
30th  of  October,  in  Dr.  Channing's  church.  Mr. 
Stetson  preached  the  sermon,  Dr.  Walker  gave  the 
charge,  Mr.  George  Ripley  gave  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship,  Dr.  Parkman  made  the  ordaining  prayer, 
and  Dr.  Channing  the  concluding  prayer. 


.*, 
LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  421 

He  gave,  during  his  visit  to  Boston,  a  proof  of  his 
sweetness  of  temper  and  perfect  self-control,  that 
will  never  be  forgotten  by  him  who  was  the  occasion 
of  it.  One  of  the  clergymen,  whom  he  asked  to 
assist  at  his  ordination,  before  he  consented,  made, 
as  he  himself  told  me,  a  most  vehement  attack  upon 
Dr.  Follen,  for  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Aboli- 
tion. It  was  in  the  street.  Dr.  Follen  heard  him 
patiently  to  the  end  of  his  sharp  rebuke,  and  then 
simply  said,  "  Will  you  not,  in  spite  of  my  offences, 
be  willing  to  assist  at  my  ordination  ? "  He  consent- 
ed ;  and  no  man  has  been  more  eloquent  than  he  in 
praising  the  virtues,  which  he  had  himself  so  severely 
and  sternly  tested.  In  speaking  of  this  to  me,  Dr. 

Follen  said,  very  quietly,  "  Mr. has  given  me  a 

lecture,  but  he  will  assist  at  my  ordination." 

Dr.  Follen  returned  to  New  York  with  his  heart 
full  of  hope  and  joy  at  the  thought  of  the  wide 
sphere  of  usefulness,  which  was  now  opened  to  him. 
Some  one  was  expatiating  to  him  upon  the  misery, 
and  vice,  and  irreligion,  that  were  to  be  found  in  New 
York.  "  That  is  one  great  reason,"  he  replied, 
"  why  I  covet  the  office  of  a  Christian  teacher  there  ; 
in  such  a  place  1  see  something  to  be  done  ;  I  hope 
to  do  some  good  there." 

Some  one  of  the  society  had  said  to  him,  that,  if 
he  could  dissolve  his  connexion  with  the  Anti-slavery 
Society,  or  if  he,  at  least,  would  refrain  from  acting 
with  them,  it  would  be  greatly  to  his  advantage,  and 
secure  his  settlement.  He,  of  course,  disdained 
such  an  unworthy  thought ;  but  it  reminded  him  of 

VOL.  i.  36 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

the  importance  of  making  himself  fully  understood 
upon  the  subject.  He  therefore,  on  the  next  Sunday, 
preached  upon  the  duties  of  a  Christian  minister. 
One  of  these,  he  said,  was  to  give  his  attention  to 
all  the  efforts  of  philanthropy  throughout  the  world. 
All  benevolent  associations  should  receive  his  hearty 
cooperation,  as  far  as  they  recommended  themselves 
to  his  conscience  ;  he  then  mentioned  among  others 
the  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  as  having 
claims  upon  the  Christian  minister.  He  described 
the  Christian  ministry,  when  rightly  understood,  as  an 
enlarged  spiritual  friendship,  involving  mutual  duties, 
and  mutual  rights  and  pleasures.  Dr.  Follen  had 
entered  upon  his  labors  with  a  joyful  alacrity.  He 
preached  with  great  fervor,  for  he  believed  every 
word  that  he  spoke  ;  he  preached  with  faith,  faith  in 
the  truths  that  he  uttered,  faith  in  the  Infinite  Spirit, 
faith  in  his  own  soul,  and  in  the  souls  of  his  hearers. 
When  he  saw  a  crowd  of  human  beings  assembled 
around  him,  he  did  not  look  upon  them  as  rich  or 
poor,  weak  or  powerful,  wise  or  simple,  gentlemen  or 
ladies,  but  literally  and  simply  as  immortal  spirits, 
absent  from  their  true  home,  and  seeking  the  way 
back  to  their  Father-land.  He  thought  none  so  pure 
that  he  might  not  fall,  none  so  degraded  that  he  might 
not  rise ;  and  he  always  preached  with  the  feeling,  that 
the  salvation  of  souls  might  be  the  consequence  of 
the  truths  he  should  declare.  I  can  never  forget  his 
first  administration  of  the  Supper.  It  seemed  as  if 
He  who  first  broke  the  bread  of  life  to  man  was  there, 
and  as  if  we  were  indeed  entering  into  a  new  covenant 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  423 

to  stand  ready  to  live  and  to  die  in  his  cause  and  for 
his  religion. 

The  following  letter  to  Harriet  Martineau  was  writ- 
ten a  short  time  after  our  return  to  New  York  from 
Boston. 

"  November  26th,  1836. 
"Mr  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  I  have  just  been  on  board  the  Orpheus,  where 
Captain  Bursley,  at  Charley's  request,  showed  us  the 
berth  you  occupied  on  your  homeward  voyage.  O, 
how  mere  emptiness  can  fill  the  soul  !  It  seemed  to 
me  as  if  the  spirit  of  your  dreams  were  hovering  still 
over  your  place  of  rest.  Charley  was  in  hopes  we 
might  find  some  one  of  your  things,  which  you  per- 
haps had  left.  He  was  only  seeking  without  what  he 
unconsciously  bears  in  his  little  heart,  where  you  oc- 
cupy the  best  berth. 

"  Eliza  has  told  you  all  about  us,  and  something  of 
what  is  going  on  within  us.  As  settlers  in  a  new 
sphere  of  action,  we  find  more  than  enough  to  exer- 
cise all  our  faculties  ;  so  I  have  only  time  for  a  few 
words. 

"  I  have  attended  twice  the  meetings  of  the  Seven- 
ty Agents  of  the  American  Anti-slavery  Society  in 
this  city.  Bemh  Green,  the  President  of  the  Oneida 
Institute,  gave  us  an  excellent  exposition  of  the  para- 
ble of  the  good  Samaritan,  showing  that  the  bonds  of 
Christian  neighbourhood  are  close  and  intimate  in  pro- 
portion to  the  distress  and  degradation  of  our  fellow- 
men.  He  exposed  the  false  greatness  of  those  in  the 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 


Christian  church,  whose  saintship  had  eaten  up  their 
humanity.  The  whole  object  of  Christ  was  to  destroy 
all  factitious  greatness  and  rank  among  men,  and  ele- 
vate humanity  ;  his  tendency  was  decidedly  radical. 
He  declared,  that,  if  it  could  be  proved,  that  the  Bible 
sanctioned  slavery,  if  the  God  of  the  Bible  thus  con- 
tradicted the  God  of  nature,  he  was  ready  to  join 
the  cause  of  Deism.  You  see  what  anti-slavery  is 
doing  here  among  the  strongest  defenders  of  Ortho- 
doxy ;  more  than  all  our  theological  controversies.  He 
ridiculed  our  preaching  saloons,  with  mahogany  pews, 
mahogany  pulpits,  and  mahogany  ministers. 

"  Anti-slavery  is  spreading  more  and  more,  par- 
ticularly in  the  democratic  party.  Several  counties 
in  this  State  are  wholly  abolitionized.  In  the  State 
of  Vermont,  the  candidates  of  both  parties  for  the 
highest  offices  are  anti-slavery  men.  The  cities 
alone  are  strong  places  of  the  pro-slavery  party. 
Give  my  affectionate  regards  to  your  brother. 

"  Ever  yours, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

There  was  every  indication,  that  Dr.  Follen's 
preaching  and  ministry  were  satisfactory  to  the  peo- 
ple. He  formed  numerous  and  valuable  acquaintan- 
ces, and  he  thought,  that  at  last  he  had  found  a  satis- 
factory sphere  of  exertion  and  usefulness.  The  first 
interruption  to  this  happy  confidence  was  in  conse- 
quence of  some  remarks  upon  slavery,  in  his  sermon 
on  Thanksgiving  day.  Before  he  went  to  church,  he 
said  to  me,  "  I  am  going  to  preach  the  sermon  that  I 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  425 

wrote  two  or  three  years  ago  for  Thanksgiving  day, 
and  preached  at  Cambridgeport  ;  but  there  is  a  pas- 
sage in  it  on  slavery,  which  I  fear  will  offend  some  of 
my  hearers,  and  I  should  be  sorry  to  offend  them." 
After  a  short  pause,  he  added,  "  The  truth  is,  the 
reason  that  I  hesitate  about  this  passage  is,  that  I  fear 
that  it  may  so  displease  the  people,  that  they  will  not 
settle  me,  and  I  do  wish  to  remain  here  ;  but  I  must 
be  unshackled,  I  must  speak  my  honest  mind,  and 
take  the  consequences.  What  do  you  think  ?"  "That 
you  ought  to  do  just  as  you  have  said  ;  you  must 
'  speak  your  honest  mind.'  '  Upon  reading  the  origi- 
nal passage,  he  was  not  satisfied  with  it,  and  said,  **  I 
shall  extemporize  this  part  of  my  discourse,  and  be 
governed  by  my  convictions  at  the  time,  and  say 
what  my  feelings  may  prompt  me  to  utter."  His  au- 
dience was  large,  for  his  and  Mr.  Dewey's  society 
united  on  that  day  ;  his  sermon  seemed  to  excite  great 
interest,  till  he  came  to  the  subject  of  slavery  ;  before 
he  had  concluded  the  first  sentence  of  his  remarks, 
two  gentlemen  rose  and  went  out  £>(  the  church,  look- 
ing very  angry.  Many  others  showed  signs  of  dis- 
pleasure or  alarm,  and  his  words  evidently  excited  a 
strong  sensation  through  the  whole  society.  He 
saw  the  two  gentlemen  go  out ;  but  he  went  on  with 
his  subject,  without  the  slightest  alteration  in  his  tone 
or  manner,  so  that  even  I  thought  that  he  did  not 
notice  them.  One  of  these  gentlemen,  he  was  told 
afterwards,  repented  of  this  act,  and  came  again  to  hear 
him  ;  the  other  never.  I  said  to  him,  as  I  came  out  of 
the  church,  that,  from  what  I  had  noticed,  I  was  cer- 
36* 


426  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

tain,  that  what  he  had  said  would  never  be  forgiven  by 
some  of  the  people.  He  replied,  "  I  hope  better 
things,  but  I  could  not  do  otherwise  ;  I  should  have 
despised  myself  if  I  had."  He  had  given  his  testi- 
mony from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  he  felt  he  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  result,  but  to  endure  the  evil  if  any 
arose  from  it.  As  soon  as  he  returned  home,  he 
wrote  down  the  words  he  had  spoken  that  gave  so 
much  offence  ;  they  will  be  found  in  his  sermon  upon 
the  text,  "Rejoice  evermore."  In  the  following 
letters  to  his  friends  Mr.  McKay,  Dr.  Channing,  and 
Harriet  Martineau,  he  mentions  the  subject ;  but  his 
mind  is  evidently  more  occupied  with  other  affairs, 
that  had  no  reference  to  self. 

TO    MR.    MCKAY. 

"  JVetc  York,  January  2d,  1837. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  will  not  enter  upon  this  new  year  without  doing 
something  toward  palliating  what  must  seem  to  you 
an  unaccountable  neglect  on  my  part,  in  not  answer- 
ing your  last  letter,  which  has  been  in  my  hands  more 
than  two  months.  I  can  only  explain,  and  must  leave 
it  to  your  generosity  to  pardon,  what  I  cannot  ex- 
cuse. Your  letter  reached  Stockbridge  during  my 
absence  at  New  York,  where  I  had  begun  an  engage- 
ment to  preach  to  the  society,  which  Mr.  Ware  had 
left.  I  afterwards  received  an  invitation  to  preach 
there  for  six  months,  and  during  the  confusing  labor 
of  moving  my  family  to  New  York,  rinding  and  fur- 
nishing rooms,  writing  sermons,  going  to  Boston  to 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  427 

be  ordained,  and  settling  my  economical  affairs  in 
Cambridge,  &c.  &c.,  I  have  neglected  many  things, 
in  which  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  cause, 
must  think  me  very  faulty.  I  ought,  however,  to  have 
written  to  you  some  lines,  at  least,  instead  of  delaying 
till  I  should  be  able  to  give  you  a  satisfactory  answer. 
I  can  assure  you,  nevertheless,  that  if  you  had  written 
to  me  of  your  project  of  going  to  Europe,  not  as  a  mere 
possibility,  but  as  a  certainty,  or  probability,  I  should 
have  answered  at  once,  and  offered  such  letters  of 
introduction  as  I  could  give. 

"  You  did  not  mention  in  your  letter  how  much 
time  you  think  of  spending  in  Europe  ;  and,  without 
knowing  this,  I  can  only  give  you  such  general  advice 
as  you  probably  do  not  want. 

"Among  the  great  collections  of  works  of  art,  I 
need  not  mention  Dresden  and  Munich,  but  I  would 
suggest  to  you,  if  possible,  to  go  to  Stuttgard,  to  see 
the  collection  of  old  German  paintings,  belonging  to 
the  king,  and  collected  by  Boisseree.  From  the 
beginning  of  July  to  the  end  of  August,  is  the  best 
time  for  Switzerland,  and  sufficient  to  see  all  that  is 
interesting,  if  you  are  industrious.  I  will  give  you  a 
letter  to  my  brother,  who  lives  on  an  estate  on  the 
banks  of  the  lake  of  Zurich,  and  who  will  give  you 
good  advice  with  regard  to  your  tour.  A  pedestrian 
tour,  or  mules  with  a  good  guide,  in  the  mountains,  is 
the  best  mode  of  travelling. 

"  The  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  people  there, 
should  be  seen  about  the  time  of  vintage,  that  is,  to- 
wards the  end  of  September  or  the  beginning  of  Octo- 


428         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

ber.  In  the  most  interesting  part,  that  is,  from  Mayence 
to  Bonn,  it  is  best  to  go  in  a  boat  (not  in  the  steam- 
boat), and  occasionally  by  land,  on  either  side,  mak- 
ing a  bargain  with  the  boatman  to  land  you  where  you 
please.  Do  not  forget  the  old  cathedrals  on  the  banks, 
particularly  that  at  Oppenheim,  before  you  come  to 
Mayence.  Of  all  the  Gothic  monuments,  the  dome 
of  Cologne  is  the  greatest  and  best.  It  requires 
study  ;  it  is  altogether  the  highest  work  of  the  middle 
ages  that  I  know.  If  you  go  to  Strasburg,  spend 
your  time  at  the  Minster  ;  the  other  places,  which  the 
vanity  of  the  burghers  points  out  to  travellers,  waste 
the  time  that  ought  to  be  spent  there. 

"  For  Italy,  the  winter  and  the  opening  spring  is 
the  most  interesting  time.  Paris  is  much  the  same  at 
all  seasons.  I  have  given  you  here  a  few  intimations, 
and  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  tell  you  all  I  know,  as  soon 
as  you  acquaint  me  more  fully  with  your  plan. 

11  The  continuation  of  my  residence  here  is  doubt- 
ful, though  my  prospects  are  good,  my  anti-slavery 
principles  excepted  ;  but  there  is  a  great  change  going 
on  in  that  respect.  Have  you  seen  '  The  Plain 
Dealer  '  ? 

"  I  send  you  a  copy  of  my  Tract. 

"  Truly  your  friend, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

TO    THE    REV.    DR.    CHANNING. 

"  New  York,  January  12th,  1837. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  kind,  affectionate  lines  ac- 
companying your  '  Letter  to  Mr.  Binney.'  The  gener- 


,  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  429 

ous  spirit  that  prompted  it  will  move  every  kindred 
mind,  however  misguided  by  prejudice,  and  open  the 
eyes  of  many  who  have  yet  to  learn,  that  not  only  the 
slavery  of  the  colored  people,  but  the  freedom  of  the 
white,  depends  on  the  issue  of  the  anti-slavery  move- 
ment. The  letter  is  a  faithful  representation  of  the 
great  contest  between  the  spirit  of  bondage,  and  the 
spirit  of  power,  and  love,  and  a  sound  mind  ;  and  I 
can  truly  say,  that  I  have  not  seen  a  document  that 
sets  forth  so  impressively  the  all-important  truth,  that, 
as  the  Abolitionists  rely  on  no  other  power  than  that 
of  free  discussion,  their  fate  indicates,  and  in  fact  de- 
cides, that  of  the  country.  What  I  have  to  object,  is 
implied  in  Mr.  Binney's  remark,  that,  among  the 
motives  of  slave-holders,  you  have  not  given  sufficient 
prominence  to  the  reckless  love  of  gain,  the  grasping 
and  unrelenting  attachment  to  property,  whatever  it 
consists  in,  and  in  whatever  way  it  has  been  acquired. 
I  fear,  also,  that  your  representation  of  the  better 
portion  of  the  anti-Abolitionists,  will  be  embraced  as 
a  shame-saving  apology  by  many  impenitent  abettors 
and  well-wishers  of  oppression.  I  could  also  wish, 
that  your  censure  of  the  Abolitionists  had  been  as 
clearly  defined  as  your  generous  expression  of  what 
you  approve  in  their  conduct.  More  distinct  and  point- 
ed censure  would  have  benefited  them,  and  deprived 
the  enemies  of  their  cause  of  a  means  of  arming  them- 
selves with  quotations,  which,  taken  by  themselves, 
imply  a  more  general  condemnation  than  they  actually 
contain,  when  held  together  by  other  parts  of  the  letter. 
"  I  have  found  it  easy  to  set  forth  in  a  few  lines  all 
the  faults  I  could  see  in  your  '  Letter ' ;  I  find  no  words 


430  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

adequate  to  express  the  satisfaction  and  delight  which 
Eliza  and  myself  have  derived  from  its  just,  and  gen- 
erous, and  inspiring  contents.  It  richly  deserves  the 
glory  of  vindictive  abuse,  which  it  has  already  called 
forth,  and  the  substantial  and  deeply  gratifying  reward 
of  making  the  scales  fall  from  many  eyes. 

"  I  have  shown  the  postscript  to  your  note,  in  which 
you  express  the  importance  of  inquiring  into  the  foun- 
dation of  G.  Smith's  remark  concerning  the  chief 
motive  of  those  who  keep  men  in  bondage,  to  my 
friend  Angelina  Grimke,  as  the  person  best  fitted  to 
answer  this  question,  and  she  intends  to  write  to  you 
on  the  subject.  You  recollect  her  beautiful  letter  to 
Garrison,  after  the  Boston  mob  ;  and  you  have  prob- 
ably seen  her  address  to  her  sisters  at  the  South. 
She  and  her  sister  Sarah,  both  Quakeresses,  devote 
themselves  entirely  to  the  great  work  of  universal 
emancipation.  The  ladies  of  the  Anti-slavery  So- 
ciety in  this  city  have  meetings  at  private  houses,  and 
in  vestries  of  churches,  to  which  they  invite  other 
ladies  (no  gentlemen),  who  wish  to  know  something 
of  this  cause,  to  meet  these  two  sisters  from  Charles- 
ton ;  and  I  understand  they  are  producing  a  strong 
impression,  by  bringing  forward  what  they  have  them- 
selves seen  and  known  from  childhood.  They  intend 
to  visit  Boston  in  the  course  of  a  month,  and  I  hope 
that  you  will  see  them  often  and  intimately.  They 
are  free  from  the  prejudices  of  those  Abolitionists, 
who  think  that  the  cause  can  be  promoted  only  in 
their  own  way  ;  their  views  of  social  reform,  extend 
far  beyond  the  grossest  form  of  servitude,  as  it  exists 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  431 

at  the  South  ;  and  their  simplicity,  gentleness,  and 
dignity,  cannot  fail  to  gain  the  confidence  of  every 
upright  mind. 

"  Mrs.  F has  told  you  of  what  happened  on 

Thanksgiving  day  at  my  church.  I  shall  give  to  my 
friend  Mr.  Spring,  who  brings  you  this,  a  copy  of 
the  remarks  made  on  that  occasion.  The  greatest 
part  was  extempore,  but  written  down  immediately 
after  service,  as  it  was  fresh  in  my  memory.  It  is 
possible  that  the  excitement  produced  by  this  homoeo- 
pathic dose  may  have  an  influence  on  our  remaining 
here  ;  but  I  cannot  judge.  In  case  we  should  not 
remain,  I  should  like  to  have  the  temporary  care  of 
some  parish,  or  the  supply  of  a  pulpit,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Boston.  I  long  after  some  time  to  my- 
self, to  devote  it  to  the  continuation  of  rny  little  work 
on  Religion,  which  has  not  been  touched  in  this  busy 
city.  My  '  Psychology '  is  put  upon  the  shelf.  Have 
you  seen  the  seven  first  numbers  of  '  The  Plain  Deal- 
er,' edited  by  Leggett,  formerly'the  partner  of  Bry- 
ant in  publishing  the  '  Evening  Post '  ?  There  is 
nothing  in  the  political  world,  that  has  refreshed  and 
quickened  my  spirit  like  this  manly  and  candid  ex- 
pression of  well-informed  individual  opinion  and 
honest  independence.  I  am  happy  to  learn,  that  the 
number  of  subscribers  is  increasing  continually.  I 
hope  that  you,  or  our  friend  Mr.  J.  Phillips,  will  sub- 
scribe. All  I  have  seen  and  heard  of  Leggett  gives 
me  a  high  idea  of  his  character. 

"  If  you  have  a  leisure  half  hour,  I  wish  you  would 
look  at  an  article  I  wrote  in  the  last  October  number 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


of  the  '  Quarterly  Anti-slavery  Magazine,'  edited 
by  Elizur  Wright.  Mr.  Sewall  will  procure  it  for 
you.  The  article  is  entitled,  '  The  Cause  of  Freedom 
in  our  Country.' 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  remarks  on  what  you  have 
heard  about  my  preaching,  and  I  shall  endeavour  to 
improve  by  them. 

"  Last  Friday  we  had  a  public  meeting  at  the 
Tabernacle,  (the  largest  hall  in  the  city,  used  as  a  free 
church,)  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  high  price 
of  bread  as  being  caused  in  part  by  the  immense 
quantity  of  bread  stuff  consumed  in  the  distilleries  ; 
one  million  two  hundred  thousand  bushels  being  used 
up  annually  in  this  city  alone  !  The  meeting  was 
called  by  the  Temperance  Society  ;  and  I  think  a 
strong  impression  would  have  been  produced  on  this 
great  assembly  of  working  men,  if  the  speakers  had 
directed  all  their  strength  to  the  main  point,  instead 
of  going  over  the  whole  ground  of  the  temperance 
enterprise,  and  ministering  to  the  amusement  of  the 
audience  by  anecdotes  and  puns.  Being  the  first 
among  those  who  were  appointed  to  speak,  I  did 
what  I  could  to  give  to  the  discussion  an  efficient 
tendency,  but  without  success. 

"  Mr.  Dewey  is  very  popular  in  his  ministry.  I 
see  him  regularly  every  Monday  forenoon,  when  we 
have  a  ministerial  conference,  including  Mr.  Barlow 
and  Mr.  Arnold,  and  your  nephew  W.  H.  Chan- 
ning,  who  are  doing  much  good  in  their  arduous  calling. 

"  The  trustees  of  my  church  are  endeavouring  to 
sell  their  meetinghouse  in  Chambers  Street.  It  is, 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

as  you  probably  recollect,  small,  and  in  the  afternoon 
so  dark,  that  I  find  it  often  difficult  to  read.  The 
pews  are  small,  and  twice  as  dear  as  those  in  Mr. 
Dewey's  ;  and  most  of  the  people  live  at  a  great  dis- 
tance from  it,  and  generally  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Mr.  Dewey's.  This  was  the  cause  which  induced  a 
number  of  individuals  and  families  belonging  to  the 
lower  church,  to  leave  it,  while  Mr.  Ware  was  still 
here,  and  to  join  the  upper.  Since  my  appointment, 
there  have  been  a  number  of  applicants  for  pews  in  my 
church,  but,  on  learning  the  price,  the  applications  were 
withdrawn.  These,  and  other  circumstances,  impede 
the  growth  of  the  society  ;  and  I  look  upon  the  sale 
of  the  present  place  of  worship,  and  the  purchase  of 
another,  in  a  more  eligible  part  of  the  city,  as  a  most 
important  step,  which  will  undoubtedly  be  brought 
about  as  soon  as  the  money  market  is  relieved  from 
its  present  pressure.  I  fear  the  people  do  not  feel 
that  affectionate  and  active  interest  in  each  other, 
without  which  the  external  bond  of  meeting  at  the 
same  house,  and  listening  to  the  same  teacher,  is  but 
a  very  imperfect  union.  The  forenoon  service  is 
generally  well  attended,  but  in  the  afternoon  I  see 
only  a  small  number,  from  fifty  to  eighty.  Some 
cannot  very  well  go  twice  on  account  of  the  distance  ; 
others  stay  at  home  because  they  divide  the  day  with 
their  domestics  ;  others  think  one  sermon  more  profit- 
able than  two  ;  others  consider  the  afternoon  as  the 
only  time  in  the  week  when  they  can  read,  or  be  with 
their  children.  For  it  is  a  fact,  that,  on  week  days, 
most  men  spend  their  whole  time  in  business,  away 
VOL.  i.  37 


434  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

from  their  families,  to  which  they  only  return  late  in 
the  evening,  unfit  for  improvement  or  enjoyment. 
All  these,  and  other  circumstances,  make  the  ma- 
jority of  my  people  inclined  to  give  up  the  afternoon 
service,  and  I  think  it  probable,  that  they  will  come 
to  this  decision. 

"  I  have  seen since  the  death  of  her  grand- 
child. She  seems  exhausted  with  fatigue,  and  care, 
and  grief,  but  supported  and  quickened  by  pious  sub- 
mission and  unwavering  faith.  The  sufferings  of 
little  children  seem  to  me  the  darkest  passage  in  the 
book  of  Providence.  The  light  of  another  life  alone 
may  be  strong  enough  to  solve  the  mystery. 

"  I  wish,  and  many  of  my  people  and  acquaintances 
here  have  expressed  the  same  desire,  that  you  would 
visit  this  city  next  spring,  and  give  a  new  impulse  to 
the  cause  of  liberal  Christianity  amongst  us.  I  beg 
you  to  take  this  into  consideration,  and,  if  possible, 
to  comply  with  the  request.  We  long  to  see  you 
face  to  face  again,  and  to  live  over  the  past  in  confi- 
dential conversation. 

"  Yours,  ever  truly, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

"New  York,  February  7th,  1837. 
"  DEAR  HARRIET, 

"  I  have  kept  this  letter  more  than  three  weeks, 
hoping  that  I  should  have  time  to  add  my  mite  of 
love.  But  though  longed  for,  leisure  time  has  not 
come  yet ;  so  that  I  must  confine  myself  to  communi- 
cating to  you  so  much  of  the  passing  events,  as  may 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN.         435 

enable  you  to  keep  up  your  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  texture  of  our  lives,  in  which,  while  we  are  taking 
up  many  new  strings,  we  hold  fast  the  golden  thread 
your  friendship  has  woven  in. 

"  You  know,  that  since  the  beginning  of  October 
last,  I  have  been  preaching  here  in  William  Ware's 
place,  and  have  had  unequivocal  proofs  of  success. 
I  took  care,  in  the  beginning,  to  acquaint  the  people 
with  my  abolitionism,  and  in  my  first  sermon  on  the 
duties  of  the  ministry,  I  said,  that  the  pulpit  ought  to 
give  support  to  every  benevolent  enterprise,  and  par- 
ticularly mentioned,  among  others,  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  our  country.  No  objection  was  made  at 
the  time.  But  in  my  Thanksgiving  sermon  I  intro- 
duced the  subject  again,  insisting  particularly  on  free 
discussion,  and  opposition  to  the  violent  interference 
of  mobs.  Mr.  Dewey,  who  was  in  the  pulpit  with 
me,  told  me  afterwards,  that  he  approved  all  I  had 
said,  though  he  had  doubts  as  to  the  policy  of  bring- 
ing it  forward.  But  the  impression  made  by  this 
small  part  of  my  sermon  was  very  strong  ;  and  two 
influential  men,  one  who  belongs  to  my  society,  and 
another  who  belongs  to  Mr.  Dewey's,  left  the  meet- 
inghouse in  great  anger,  while  I  was  speaking.  I  have 
been  blamed  by  many  for  introducing  this  subject, 
though  they  all  agree,  that  what  I  said  was  true,  and 
that  old  custom  allowed  the  preacher  on  Thanksgiving 
day  to  preach  on  politics.  It  is  somewhat  doubtful 
now  whether  they  will  settle  me  here  permanently, 
though  they  declare  themselves  satisfied  in  other  re- 
spects. I  feel  sure,  that  if  I  had  known  the  conse- 


436         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

quences,  I  should  have  changed  nothing,  either  in 
matter  or  manner.  So  we  feel  quite  easy,  come  what 
may.  The  Deputy  Postmaster,  who  is  very  influen- 
tial in  the  democratic  party,  strongly  approved  of 
the  part  I  had  taken,  and  so  did  a  few  others ;  but  the 
majority  are  either  angry,  or  afraid,  or  sorry. 

"  Have  you  seen  '  The  Plain  Dealer,'  a  new  weekly 
publication  issued  in  this  city  by  Leggett  ?  '  The 
Plain  Dealer,'  is  decidedly  the  most  independent, 
thorough-going,  and  candid  democratic  paper,  that  this 
country  has  produced.  It  has  taken  a  noble  stand  in 
the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  fearlessly  and  uncompro- 
misingly criticizes  the  leaders  of  the  democratic  as 
well  as  the  whig  party.  I  will  see  that  you  have  a 
copy.  On  your  petition  for  an  international  copy- 
right law,  Leggett  takes  opposite  ground,  but  admits 
every  thing  that  is  sent  him  in  defence  of  the  opposite 
side,  and  I  have  some  hope  that  he  will  come  round 
to  what  we  think  the  right  view  of  the  subject.  The 
eleventh  number  of  '  The  Plain  Dealer '  contains  a 
long,  elaborate  article  which  I  wrote  ;  and  I  shall,  in 
the  next  number,  refute  the  few  objections  which  he 
still  makes.  Meanwhile  the  memorial  has  been  com- 
mitted in  the  Senate  to  a  committee,  that  consists  of 
Clay,  Preston,  Webster,  Buchanan,  and  Ewing. 
I  intend  to  write  to  Mr.  Webster,  and  send  him  what 
I  have  written  on  the  subject. 

"  Leggett's  reasoning  would  be  powerful,  if  it  were 
directed  against  the  whole  institution  of  private  prop- 
erty ;  but,  as  he  acknowledges  this  as  most  condu- 
cive to  the  greatest  happiness  of  the  greatest  number, 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  437 

his  opposition  to  that  one  species  of  private  property 
is  powerless. 

"  When  you  write  to  your  brother  James,  remem- 
ber me  to  him  affectionately.  His  book  is  doing 
much  good,  wherever  it  goes. 

"  I  had  a  talk  lately  with  Mr. ,  who  expressed 

the  want  of  a  periodical  such  as  we  thought  of,  and 
he  offered  to  head  a  subscription  list  for  '  All  Sides  ' 
with  one  thousand  dollars,  to  secure  the  editor  from 
loss  during  the  first  two  years.  If  I  do  not  perma- 
nently engage  in  the  ministry,  I  think  of  making  the 
attempt,  counting  on  your  cooperation.  I  hope  some 
lines  from  you  will  soon  gladden  our  eyes  and  hearts. 
"  Yours  in  truth  and  love, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

The  character  of  the  periodical  to  which  Dr. 
Follen  refers  in  this  letter,  may  be  understood  by  its 
name.  He  had  long  wished  to  see  such  a  paper 
established,  where  not  only  every  subject  of  general 
interest  might  be  discussed,  but  where  all  the  differ- 
ent aspects  under  which  it  might  be  viewed  should 
be  fairly  given.  He  drew  up  a  plan  for  such  a 
periodical,  and,  had  he  given  up  the  ministry  at  that 
time,  he  doubtless  would  have  attempted  to  carry  it 
into  effect.  A  plan  of  this  paper  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix  to  this  volume. 

As  there  was  such  a  small  number  of  hearers  in  the 

afternoon,  the  service  in  the  Chambers-Street  Church 

was  changed  to  the  evening.    Dr.  Follen  commenced 

at  this  time  a  course  of  lectures   upon  his  views  of 

37* 


438  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

Christianity.  The  trustees  of  the  society  thought  it 
best  to  advertise  this  course  in  the  newspapers,  and 
notice  was  given  every  week  what  subject  would  be 
taken  up  the  following  Sunday  evening.  This  brought 
many  strangers  to  the  church.  The  house  was  often 
so  crowded,  that  there  was  not  a  vacant  seat.  This  was 
very  encouraging  to  the  preacher  ;  and  he  spoke  with 
great  eloquence  and  power.  He  studied  the  subject 
faithfully  before  he  entered  the  pulpit,  made  a  very 
few  notes  of  the  different  heads  of  his  discourse,  and 
then  spoke  at  least  an  hour  from  the  fulness  of  his 
soul,  with  a  feeling  of  the  infinite  importance,  and  a 
faith  in  the  reality,  of  the  truths  he  was  uttering, 
that  had  an  irresistible  effect  upon  the  minds  of  his 
hearers. 

This  was  a  period  of  great  enjoyment  to  Dr.  Fol- 
len.  He  would  often  say,  when  he  returned  from 
preaching  to  a  large  audience,  "  'T  is  a  great  pleasure 
to  feel  that  I  am  making  all  these  people  conscious 
that  they  have  souls."  He  never  hesitated  for  words 
in  speaking,  either  in  his  argument  or  in  the  illustra- 
tion of  his  subject.  He  never,  although  he  spoke 
extempore,  repeated  himself.  A  friend  resolved  one 
evening  to  watch  him  particularly  through  his  whole 
discourse,  to  see  if  he  did  not  repeat  the  same  argu- 
ment or  some  particular  expression  ;  but  he  said  he 
did  not  detect  a  single  repetition,  except  where  it  was 
intentional  and  appropriate. 

One  of  Dr.  Follen's  pleasures  this  winter  was  in 
assisting  Dr.  Foresti  and  Mr.  Castiglia  in  acquiring 
the  English  language.  We  met  these  gentlemen  at 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    POLLEN.  439 

Mr.  Maroncelli's,  just  after  their  arrival  in  this  coun- 
try, and  offered  to  teach  them  our  language.  For 
fourteen  years  they  had  suffered  the  cruel  imprison- 
ment of  the  Spielberg  as  a  punishment  for  their  alle- 
giance to  liberty  and  humanity.  They  were  of  course 
as  brothers  to  us.  The  friendship  which  this  led  to 
with  these  interesting  men  was  a  source  of  great 
pleasure  to  us. 

As  the  term  for  which  Dr.  Follen  was  engaged 
expired  on  the  1st  of  April,  a  meeting  of  the  pew- 
holders  was  called  in  March,  to  decide  whether  he 
should  be  invited  to  remain  longer  with  them.  I 
copy  from  a  diary,  which  he  kept  at  that  time,  his  ac- 
count of  the  result  of  the  meeting. 

"March  19th,  1837.  Meeting  of  the  pew-holders. 
Result  of  the  vote.  1st  vote,  Shall  Rev.  Dr.  Fol- 
len be  invited  to  remain  with  us  ?  Yeas  27,  nays  16. 
2d  vote,  For  how  long  a  time  ?  For  one  year  28, 
for  two  years  6.  Some  of  my  friends  advised  me  to 
refuse  ;  but,  after  examination,  it  was  found  that  the 
first  vote  was  understood  as  proposing  a  temporary 
arrangement  ;  by  which  means  those  who  were  for  a 
permanent  settlement  and  those  who  were  opposed  to 
any,  voted  on  the  same  side.  The  real  opposition 
was  thus  reduced  to  three.  I  was  then  advised  and 
urged  to  accept,  and  I  accepted.  Terms  for  one 
year,  with  9  weeks'  vacation,  2000  dollars,  with  the 
prospect  of  2500  if  the  means  of  the  society  in- 
creased." 

When  the  result  of  the  meeting  was  first  made 
known  to  Dr.  Follen,  with  the  advice  that  he  should 


440  LIFE   OF   CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

not  accept  the  invitation  to  remain,  he  received  it  as 
calmly  and  sweetly  as  if  it  were  what  he  expected, 
and  agreed,  directly,  that  it  was  best  that  he  should 
refuse  to  remain.  When  we  were  alone,  however, 
he  said  with  strong  emotion,  "  Surely  it  is  not  wrong 
here  to  confess  my  disappointment.  O  how  bitterly 
I  feel  it.  Through  my  whole  life  I  have  labored  for 
the  highest  objects,  and  have  been  actuated  by  the  most 
elevated  purposes,  and  in  all  things  I  have  apparently 
failed.  I  cannot  help  feeling  this  deeply."  "  This 
is  not  failure,"  said  I  ;  "  this  is  what  we  both  ex- 
pected ;  others  prefer  bonds,  you  prefer  freedom, 
and  we  must  be  willing  to  pay  the  penalty  annexed 
to  the  choice."  "  True,"  he  said,  "  and  so  we 
are  ;  if  you  care  nothing  about  it,  neither  do  I."  A 
day  or  two  before  this  occurred,  he  had  received  a 
letter  from  Judge  Cranch,  of  Washington,  inviting 
him  to  preach  in  the  Unitarian  Church  there  for  as 
long  a  time  as  would  be  convenient  to  him,  and 
particularly  desiring  him  to  repeat  the  course  of 
lectures  he  had  been  delivering  in  New  York,  of 
which  he  had  heard  very  high  praise.  Having  just 
then  relinquished  the  hope  of  remaining  in  New  York, 
he  immediately  accepted  this  invitation,  and  engaged 
to  preach  in  Washington  through  the  whole  month 
of  April.  It  was  not  till  some  days  afterwards,  that 
his  friends,  by  satisfying  him  that  it  was  only  two  or 
three  who  opposed  his  remaining  in  New  York,  in- 
duced him  to  change  his  original  purpose  and  con- 
tinue there  another  year.  Perhaps  this  was  a  mistake  ; 
he  often  thought  himself  that  it  was.  He  determined 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  441 

to  fulfil  his  engagement  at  Washington,  and  therefore 
his  new  connexion  with  the  society  did  not  commence 
till  the  1  st  of  May. 

In  the  following  letter  to  Harriet  Martineau,  written 
just  after  the  meeting  of  the  pew-holders,  he  does  not 
directly  speak  of  his  disappointment ;  but  the  general 
tone  indicates,  that  the  remembrance  of  it  had  not 
passed  away. 

"  New  York,  March  25th,  1837. 
"  DEAR  HARRIET, 

"  Eliza  has  given  you  all  the  particulars  you  need, 
to  follow  us  through  the  various  scenes  we  have  passed 
through,  to  fancy  or  rather  to  feel  yourself  in  the 
midst  of  us.  Our  best  pleasures  never  fail  to  bid  you 
be  present  and  rejoice  with  us,  and  in  every  disap- 
pointment of  our  faith  in  others,  we  feel  assured  that 
you  would  not  misjudge  our  intentions,  nor  fear  to 
have  your  own  misinterpreted. 

I  have  but  just  time  to  tell  you  how  gloriously 
Massachusetts  has  entered  into  the  anti-slavery  cause. 
You  were  present  at  the  insulting  treatment  we  re- 
ceived from  the  committee  of  the  legislature  last  win- 
ter. This  winter  the  Hall  of  Representatives  was 
granted  to  the  Anti-slavery  Society  to  hold  their 
meetings  in,  and  on  the  21st  of  this  month  the  House 
passed  three  resolutions,  which,  but  for  their  length, 
I  should  copy  for  you.  They  declare  slavery  a  great 
social,  moral,  and  political  evil  ;  they  protest  against 
the  resolution  of  Congress,  by  which  all  petitions 
relating  to  slavery  are  laid  on  the  table  without  being 


442  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

referred,  as  a  virtual  denial  of  the  constitutional  right 
of  petition,  and  a  violation  of  the  inherent,  absolute, 
and  inalienable  rights  of  man  ;  they  assert,  that  Con- 
gress possesses  the  right  to  abolish  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  that  its  exercise  should  be 
restrained  only  by  a  regard  to  the  public  good.  These 
resolutions  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
378  votes  against  16.  It  is  again  the  mass  of  the 
people,  the  country  in  opposition  to  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton, that  has  taken  this  stand  upon  principle.  So 
it  was  in  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution,  and 
so  it  will  be  in  every  case  of  collision  between  the 
rights  of  man  and  the  prerogatives  of  wealth. 

Every  day  we  hear  of  new  failures  among  the  mer- 
chants here  and  in  other  cities  ;  and  I  verily  believe, 
that  nothing  but  this  violent  head  wind  will  check  the 
mad  career  of  speculation,  and  prove  what  houses  are 
built  on  the  rock  of  individual  exertion,  and  what  on 
the  sand  of  a  factitious  credit.  The  people  will  be 
better  off,  and  I  hope  a  little  wiser,  in  the  end. 
"  Yours  in  true  love, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

Dr.  Follen  was  received  with  great  kindness  in 
Washington,  and,  but  for  the  severe  illness  of  our 
little  boy,  he  would  have  enjoyed  his  visit  there 
highly.  One  of  the  society,  just  before  he  entered  the 
pulpit,  urged  him,  courteously  and  respectfully,  not 
to  say  any  thing  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  adding 
that  he  did  not  think  his  character,  his  sacred  office,  or 
any  other  consideration,  would  save  him  from  personal 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         443 

insult  if  he  did.  As  he  was  to  be  there  but  for  a 
short  time,  and  as  it  had  been  taken  for  granted,  when 
he  was  invited,  that  he  would  be  silent  on  this  sub- 
ject, Dr.  Follen  thought  it  his  duty  to  accede  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people.  But  all  the  more  was  the 
cause  in  his  heart,  and  all  the  more  fervently  did  he 
strive  to  awaken  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers  such  a 
reverence  for  the  rights  of  humanity,  such  a  contempt 
for  life  and  all  the  goods  of  life,  when  put  in  opposi- 
tion to  duty,  as  should  rouse  in  them  the  holy  purpose 
to  break  every  bond,  whether  of  iron,  of  prejudice, 
or  of  sin. 

In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Channing,  written  at  this  time, 
he  says  ; 

"  And  how,  you  ask,  is  it  that  I,  the  incendiary, 
and  my  equally  incendiary  partner,  are  here  in  the 
midst  of  this  slave-holding  community.  I  came  here 
at  the  urgent  request  of  Judge  Cranch  and  the  com- 
mittee of  the  Unitarian  Society,  to  preach  to  them  ; 
and  have  succeeded  in  drawing  a  good  number  to  the 
church  on  Sunday  and  on  Thursday  evenings,  to  hear 
my  lectures  on  Unitarian  Christianity.  The  forenoon 
service,  too,  is  more  fully  attended  than  it  was  on  the 
first  Sunday.  I  am  obliged  to  be  silent  on  abolition, 
but  I  preach,  with  all  my  might,  on  the  dignity  and 
rights  of  human  nature,  on  the  great  texts,  '  Honor  all 
men,'  and  '  All  ye  are  brethren,'  and  pray  for  the 
oppressed.  There  is  now  and  then,  apparently,  an 
expectation  of  hearing  rank  abolition  doctrine  ;  but 
I  avoid  exciting  words,  and  let  the  principles  make 


444         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

the  desired  impression.  I  have  never  been  so  strong- 
ly impressed  with  the  intrinsic  anti-slavery  tendency 
of  Unitarianism,  as  taking  its  stand  on  the  absolute 
worth  and  eternal  destiny  of  human  nature." 

He  preached  at  Washington  with  an  uncommon 
freedom  and  eloquence  ;  there  seemed  to  be  a  quick- 
ening power  in  his  words.  The  church  filled  up. 
Many,  who  said  they  could  not  tell  him  of  the  im- 
pression he  had  made  upon  them,  poured  out  their 
full  hearts  to  me.  Judge  Cranch  told  me,  that  he 
thought  his  manner  and  his  matter  a  perfect  model 
of  pulpit  eloquence.  One  Sunday,  after  service,  some 
gentlemen,  whom  he  had  never  before  seen,  came 
and  introduced  themselves  tO'him,  and  told  him,  that 
they  could  not  resist  the  impulse  they  felt  to  come 
and  thank  him  for  the  pleasure  he  had  given  them, 
and  for  the  good  they  had  received  from  him.  They 
told  him,  that  they  never  should  forget  the  words  he 
had  spoken  to  them  that  morning.  I  doubt  not,  that 
there  are  many  hearts  in  Washington  who  remember 
him  in  love,  and  whose  holiest  purposes  are  strength- 
ened whenever  they  think  of  him.  Some  friends 
there  expressed  a  wish,  that  he  would  come  and  re- 
main as  pastor  of  the  church  ;  and  he  repeatedly 
said  to  me,  that  but  for  slavery  he  should  have  liked 
to  go,  .but  no  inducement  could  tempt  him  to  remain 
there  unless  he  were  free  to  speak  against  this  great 
sin.  But  the  kindness  he  received  from  various  in- 
dividuals at  Washington  made  an  indelible  impression 
upon  his  heart  ;  and  he  often  spoke  of  it  with  deep 
feeling. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


Dr.  Follen  returns  to  New  York.  —  Lectures  on  Infidelity.  —  Goes 
to  Stockbridge.  —  Letters  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  He  re- 
turns to  New  York.  —  Death  of  Lovejoy.  —  Interview  with 
Darusmond.  —  Causes  of  Dr.  Follen's  leaving  New  York.  — 
His  Farewell  Sermon. 

DR.  FOLLEN  resumed  his  ministry  in  New  York 
with  new  energy.  In  order  that  we  might  perform 
our  duties  to  the  parish  more  perfectly,  we  went  to 
housekeeping.  He  did  not  think  a  Christian  minister 
performed  all  his  duties  unless  he  lived  in  the  con- 
stant exercise  of  hospitality,  simple  and  true,  free 
from  all  ostentation,  and  supported  by  a  self-denying 
economy.  Dr.  Follen  knew  that  his  future  prospects 
were  precarious.  He  was  aware,  that  there  were 
some  influential  individuals  in  the  society,  who  were 
opposed  to  him  in  all  things  ;  he  felt  that  he  was 
again  doomed  to  suffer  suspense,  and  perhaps  disap- 
pointment ;  but  he  succeeded  in  his  efforts  to  cast  off 
all  the  hopes  and  fears  that  belong  to  such  a  state ; 
indeed  all  cares  that  centred  in  self  were  soon  dis- 
missed by  him.  But  such  was  his  disposition  to  be- 
lieve what  he  hoped,  that,  when  he  thought  of  the 
VOL.  i.  38 


446          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

subject  at  all,  he  felt  a  great  degree  of  certainty  that 
he  should  remain. 

A  proposal  was  made  to  him  during  this  year  to 
take  charge  of  another  society,  with  the  view  of  making 
him  the  pastor  ;  but  he  refused,  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  pledged  to  the  church  at  New  York.  Directly 
after  his  return  he  commenced  a  course  of  lectures  in 
the  church,  on  infidelity,  which  was  well  attended  ;  the 
house  was  always  full.  Many  of  those  men  who  are 
so  unhappy  as  to  have  doubts  with  regard  to  Chris- 
tianity came  to  hear  him.  He  declared  at  the  out- 
set his  determination  to  do  justice  to  the  infidels,  as 
they  are  called  ;  he  disliked  the  term  as  it  was  usually 
applied.  He  said,  in  one  of  his  lectures,  "I  would 
rather  call  him  an  unbeliever  than  an  infidel  (I  mean 
the  conscientious  skeptic),  whose  life  is  governed  by 
the  precepts  of  religion,  though  his  mind  is  not  satis- 
fied of  its  evidence.  To  charge  such  a  man  with 
wilful  unbelief  is  as  unjustifiable  as  to  accuse  a  man  of 
dishonesty,  who,  in  casting  up  an  account,  has  com- 
mitted a  mistake  by  which  he  himself  is  the  loser." 
He  pointed  out  the  advantage  and  the  duty  of  exam- 
ining the  objections  to  Christianity,  and  of  studying  the 
infidel  writers,  especially  to  those  who  are  not  satis- 
fied with  regard  to  the  foundation  of  their  faith.  He 
spoke  in  these  words  of  his  own  experience.  "  For 
myself,  I  can  certainly  say,  that,  next  to  the  Gospel 
itself,  the  books  that  have  been  written  against  it  have 
been  the  most  efficient  promoters  of  my  belief  in  its 
divine  truth.  Every  difficulty  we  leave  unexamined 
will  become  a  cause  of  doubt  to  us,  whereas,  through 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  447 

a  faithful  investigation,  it  might  have  become  an  addi- 
tional ground  of  conviction.  Let  us  not  shun,  nay, 
let  us  challenge  every  doubt  which  may  present  itself 
with  regard  to  our  immortality."  He  thought  skep- 
ticism was  natural  to  many  of  the  highest  and  most 
honest  minds  ;  it  grew  out  of  their  earnest  desire  to 
be  assured  of  the  rational  foundations  of  their  faith. 
It  was,  he  thought,  necessary  to  many  to  pass  through 
a  period  of  skepticism.  "  We  must,"  he  said,  "have 
more  skepticism  before  we  can  expect  to  have  more 
faith  ;  or  rather,  society  will  make  progress  only 
so  far  as  it  becomes  courageous  in  the  confession  of 
its  doubts.  There  should  be  a  free  interchange  of 
thought,  and  a  confession  of  doubt.  The  fear  of  say- 
ing all  that  is  in  our  hearts  produces  skepticism." 

He  reviewed,  during  this  course  of  lectures,  all  the 
most  celebrated  writers  and  theories  of  infidelity  ;  the 
French  Encyclopedists,  Hobbes,  Hume,  Tom  Paine, 
and  Fanny  Wright.  He  vituperated  none,  he 
sneered  at  none,  he  treated  them  all  with  respect. 
He  took  Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason  "  into  the  pulpit, 
and  read  an  eloquent  passage  from  it,  proving  that  he 
believed  in  God  and  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  simply  stated,  that  in  the  same  pages  were  to  be 
found  the  grossest  indecencies.  He  pointed  out  the 
inconsistencies  of  unbelievers,  the  false  grounds  of 
their  arguments,  and  showed  that,  in  spite  of  them- 
selves, they  could  not  get  rid  of  a  belief  in  immortality. 
He  then  showed,  that  fair  and  free  inquiry  would  lead 
to  faith.  Christianity,  rightly  understood,  instead  of 
checking  free  inquiry,  invites  it,  and  opens  to  it  an 
infinite  sphere. 


448  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Christianity  is,"  he  said,  "  the  most  efficient 
skepticism,  when  directed  against  imposition  and  blind 
credulity.  Christianity  is  the  deepest  science,  the 
most  sublime  philosophy,  adapted  to  the  capacity  of 
a  little  child,  yet  transcending  the  wisdom  of  the 
wisest."  He  dwelt  most  eloquently  upon  the  im- 
portance to  the  cause  of  religion,  that  believers  should 
have  a  deep  and  well-grounded  faith  themselves, 
before  they  attempted  to  convert  others.  "  Those 
who  reject  Christianity  because  of  its  supposed  in- 
consistency with  nature,  experience,  and  reason,  can 
be  convinced  of  their  error  only  by  those  who  have 
embraced  it,  because  of  its  perfect  agreement  with 
the  demands  of  reason,  the  teachings  of  experi- 
ence, and  the  deepest  wants  of  human  nature.  The 
atheist  in  his  pride  is  more  imperfect  than  the  most 
rude  and  confined  worshipper  of  Deity  ;  for  the  former 
wants  entirely  that  deepest  and  greatest  effort  of  the 
mind,  of  which  the  other  possesses  at  least  a  degree. 
The  principles  of  man's*  immortality  being  acknowl- 
edged in  the  New  Testament  ought  not  to  be  con- 
sidered a  check  to  our  inquiry,  whether  this  doctrine 
has  any  other  foundation  beside  that  evidence.  God 
has  given  us  this  infinite  desire  of  extending  our 
knowledge  as  far  as  possible,  and  if  we  have  not  made 
this  use  of  our  endowments,  we  do  not  feel  assured 
that  there  are  no  reasons  for  doubting.  Many  think 
that  calling  in  question  the  truths  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  New  Testament  is  a  kind  of  irreverence ;  but  to 
me  it  seems,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  true  foundation 
of  our  abiding  belief  in  its  truth  is,  that  its  fundamen- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN,  449 

tal  doctrines  may  at  all  times  be  put  to  the  test  of  fair 
reasoning,  .that  its  principles  are  not  a  mere  matter  of 
fact  and  history,  but  of  free  investigation  and  convic- 
tion. The  Bible  gives  us  only  means  of  arriving  at 
truth,  not  truth  itself.  I  believe  in  the  Bible  because 
the  Bible  believes  in  me.  I  find  the  law  and  the 
prophets  in  my  own  soul." 

These  are  a  few  of  the  fragments  which  I  have 
been  able  to  put  together  from  separate  scraps  of  pa- 
per and  the  few  notes  which  he  made  for  this  course 
of  lectures.  He  never  wrote  any  of  them.  Many  of 
the  "  Society  of  Free  Inquirers  "  came  to  hear  him  ; 
some  never  left  him  afterwards.  Some  Christians 
objected  that  he  was  so  fair  to  the  infidels,  that  he 
made  them  appear  almost  right.  After  the  course 
was  finished,  a  very  respectable  man,  who  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  going  on  Sunday  to  hear  the  unbeliev- 
ers, said  to  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Chambers- 
Street  Church,  that  he  would  secure  1500  dollars  to 
Dr.  Follen  if  he  would  deliver  that  course  of  lectures 
in  Tammany  Hall,  their  place  of  meeting.  The 
gentleman  to  whom  he  made  this  proposal,  supposing 
the  thing  impossible,  replied,  that  he  had  better, 
instead  of  doing  this,  take  a  pew  in  the  church  and 
bring  his  family  to  meeting.  He  did  so  ;  but  Dr. 
Follen  always  regretted  that  he  had  not  known  this 
fact  before,  for  in  some  way  or  other  he  should  have 
met  such  a  desire.  Shortly  after  this  time  this  man's 
wife  died,  and  one  of  the  last  wishes  she  expressed, 
was,  that  Dr.  Follen  might  officiate  at  her  funeral  ; 
her  husband  came  once  or  twice  to  pass  an  evening 
38* 


450  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

with  us.  He  was  a  well-informed,  sensible  man,  a 
mechanic. 

When  the  hot  weather  came  on,  Dr.  Follen  was 
glad  to  avail  himself  of  the  permission  granted  him  by 
the  society,  to  take  a  respite  from  his  labors  for  a  few 
weeks.  In  July  we  went  to  Stockbridge,  where  we 
engaged  lodgings  for  the  two  hot  months.  He  en- 
joyed highly  his  return  to  this  beautiful  village.  Well 
do  I  remember  his  delight  when  we  arrived  there,  at 
finding  that  a  kind  friend  had  provided  and  furnished  a 
nice  study  table  for  him  in  the  apartment  we  were  to 

occupy.     "  It  is  dear  J that  has  done  this,"  he 

said.  As  soon  as  we  were  established,  he  took  up  his 
favorite  "  Psychology  "  again.  All  his  mornings  he 
devoted  to  this,  his  dearest  occupation,  the  afternoons 
and  evenings  to  the  delightful  circle  of  friends  that 
were  around  us,  and  to  the  enjoyment,  with  his  wife 
and  child,  of  God's  glorious  world,  in  which  he  was 
ever  a  true  worshipper.  These  beautiful  hours  he 
enjoyed  with  the  simplicity  and  heartiness  of  a  child, 
and  with  the  sublime  joy  of  the  truly  pure  in  heart, 
who  see  God  in  every  thing  good  and  lovely.  Some 
lines,  which  he  wrote  for  a  young  friend,  who  asked 
him  to  write  something  in  her  album,  show  his  serene 
and  happy  state  of  mind.  He  shrank  from  writing  in 
albums,  but  he  could  not  bear  to  refuse  her  request  ; 
and,  under  a  drawing  of  a  windmill,  he  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing. 

"  TO    D.    H. 

"  Being  desirous  to    comply  with   your   request, 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN.         451 

dear  Delia,  that  I  would  write  something  in  your 
album,  and  at  the  same  time  wishing  to  give  some- 
thing more  than  an  assurance  of  what  you  already 
know,  my  affectionate  interest  in  you,  I  find  my 
state  of  mind  strikingly  exemplified  by  the  windmill 
above.  For,  as  the  windmill,  being  generally  found 
in  dry,  sterile  places,  is  dependent  on  every  chance 
wind,  as  well  as  on  the  grain  in  the  hopper,  in  order 
to  produce  something  that  is  worth  the  grinding,  so 
my  mind  lacks  not  only  the  subject  to  work  upon,  but 
the  spirit  to  turn  the  wheels,  that  something  not  al- 
together unsightly  and  unpalatable  may  come  to  light. 
In  this  state  of  intellectual  dependence,  brought  on 
by  living  for  some  time  rather  beyond  my  intellectual 
means,  there  is  but  one  thing  I  have  to  say  to  you. 
As  I  am  generally  engaged  in  grave  and  laborious 
pursuits,  I  feel  greatly  dependent,  not  only  on  the 
never-failing  support  of  faith  and  long-tried  friendship, 
but  moreover  on  the  passing,  kindly  influences,  that 
chance  to  meet  and  cheer  me  on  the  toilsome  path. 
I  feel  dependent  for  a  vigorous  and  hopeful  spirit,  on 
now  and  then  a  kind  word,  the  loud  laugh  of  a  child, 
or  the  silent  greeting  of  a  flower  ;  now  a  visit  from  an 
old  friend,  and  now  a  new  acquaintance.  New  ac- 
quaintances are  precious  to  me,  both  for  their  own 
sakes,  and  because  they  lead  me  to  think  that,  if  we 
only  knew  it,  we  should  find,  in  our  daily  walk,  bro- 
thers and  sisters,  who  are  all  the  while  passing  them- 
selves off  as  strangers,  and  who,  if  it  were  not  for 
these  accidental  recognitions,  must  remain  strangers 
until  the  curtain  rises  for  the  last  act,  that  is  to  unfold 


452  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

the  plot  of  the  long  and  complicated  play.  Such, 
my  dear  Delia,  has  been  the  effect  of  our  short  and 
incidental  acquaintance  with  you  ;  making  us  feel  as 
if  we  had  always  known  you  and  as  if  a  longer  ac- 
quaintance would  only  make  us  love  you  more  and 
more. 

"C.  FOLLEN. 
"  Stockbridge,  July,  1837." 

The  "  Psychology  "  proceeded  slowly.  Dr.  Fol- 
len  found  it  difficult  to  satisfy  his  mind  upon  some 
important  questions,  but  he  made  some  progress. 
But  this  was  rather  in  making  his  preparations  for  the 
work,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  his  views  and  plans, 
than  in  the  completion  of  any  part  of  it.  It  was  a 
great  pleasure  to  be  in  the  room  with  him,  when  he 
was  engaged  in  a  work  deeply  interesting  to  him. 
Intellectual  labor  was  a  high  enjoyment  to  him  ;  it 
seemed  the  true  element  of  his  soul.  Conversation 
between  others  did  not  interrupt  him,  unless  it  was 
upon  a  subject  in  which  he  had  a  peculiar  interest. 
Sometimes  he  liked  to  walk  out  in  the  open  air  by 
himself  when  he  wanted  to  think  out  a  difficult  ques- 
tion. At  others,  he  liked  to  have  me  go  with  him, 
and  talk  it  over  fully  ;  and  nothing  could  exceed  his 
delight  when  he  could  say  at  last,  "  The  thing  is  quite 
clear  to  me  now."  He  did  not  like  to  have  any  soli- 
tary pleasure.  As  soon  as  he  had  written  any  thing 
to  his  own  satisfaction,  he  wished  to  read  it  to  a  friend, 
and  to  know  his  impressions.  He  had  no  undue 
sensitiveness  in  relation  to  his  own  writings  ;  he  was 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  453 

more  afraid  that  a  defect  should  be  passed  over,  than 
that  a  fault  should  be  discovered.  He  thanked  any 
one  heartily,  that  pointed  out  an  error  in  reasoning, 
or  in  expression.  "  Be  ye  perfect,"  was  the  motto 
of  his  every-day  life  in  little  as  well  as  great  things. 
From  his  letters  to  Harriet  Martineau  this  summer, 
I  extract  only  the  following  passages. 

"  Stockbridge,  July  IQth,  1837. 
"DEAR  HARRIET, 

"  I  have  just  received  a  few  lines  from  J.  G. 
Whittier,  the  poet  of  freedom  and  of  the  people,  and 
I  give  you  his  words.  '  I  have  just  read  Miss  Mar- 
tineau's  book,  and,  as  Uncle  Toby  said  of  Yorick's 
sermon,  I  like  it  hugely.'  I  have  no  time  to  give 
you  more  than  the  general  impression  on  my  mind. 
You  have  judged  the  nation  by  the  standard  they  set 
up  for  themselves  on  entering  upon  independent  ex- 
istence, as  being  a  law  unto  themselves.  Your  judg- 
ment, I  think,  is  right  in  all  essentials.  You  have 
pointed  out  the  two  most  striking  national  character- 
istics ;  '  Deficiency  of  individual  moral  independence, 
and  extraordinary  mutual  respect  and  kindness.' 

"  To  me  the  most  precious  chapter  in  the  book,  in 
practical  importance,  and  the  authentic  seal  of  your 
mission,  is  that  on  property.  The  warmest  friends  of 
progress,  that  have  borrowed  your  voice  to  wake  the 
people  to  its  true  glory,  and  its  true  danger,  have  still 
passed  by  that  subject.  Yet  it  is  that  very  subject, 
that  will  agitate  the  inmost  life  of  the  people,  until  its 
faith  has  grown  strong  enough  to  remove  a  mountain 
of  unequal  laws." 


454  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

During  this  summer  Dr.  Follen  had  the  great  pleas- 
ure of  becoming  more  intimately  acquainted  with 
Confalonieri,  that  truly  noble  victim  of  tyranny.  He 
passed  a  number  of  days  in  Stockbridge,  and  was 
often  with  us.  It  was  an  affecting,  a  soul-stirring 
sight,  to  see  these  two  good  and  great  men,  both  ex- 
iles from  their  native  land,  talking  together,  with  the 
earnestness  and  devotedness  of  a  first  love,  upon  phi- 
lanthropic subjects,  with  a  faith  and  a  charity,  that 
had  strengthened  under  opposition  and  failure  and  the 
cruelty  of  their  human  brethren.  I  could  see,  that 
each  time  that  my  husband  conversed  with  this  inter- 
esting man,  and  found  that  the  cruel  sufferings  of  four- 
teen years,  in  the  prison  of  the  Spielberg,  had  not 
chilled  his  love  for  his  fellow-man,  he  consecrated 
himself  anew  to  the  cause  of  justice  and  humanity, 
for  which  they  both  had  suffered. 

We  returned  in  September  to  New  York.  Dr. 
Follen  entered  upon  the  duties  and  pleasures  of  his 
ministry  with  recruited  strength  and  a  new  ardor  ;  he 
had  enjoyed  highly  the  rest  and  peace  he  had  found 
at  Stockbridge  ;  a  rest,  which  was  indeed  with  him 
only  change  of  occupation,  and  a  peace,  which  was  the 
native  atmosphere  of  his  soul. 

Dr.  Follen  was  in  the  habit,  at  these  periods  of 
happy  leisure,  of  writing  down,  as  they  occurred  to 
him,  his  stray  thoughts,  from  which  I  select  only  a 
few.  They  were  written  at  different  times. 

"  Religion  is  the  desire  after  an  infinite  existence 
and  efficiency  ;  when  we  shall  be  clothed  upon  with 


LIFE    OF  CHARLES    FOLLEN.  455 

that  angelic  wisdom,  which  belongs  to  celestial  child- 
hood, our  volumes  of  learning  will  appear  to  us  what 
they  are  to  our  children  now,  playthings,  or  at  least 
footstools  to  stand  upon,  and  thus  to  add  some  cubits 
to  our  pigmy  stature." 

"  There  is  such  a  thing  as  experience  of  immortal- 
ity, even  in  this  life.  The  mind,  by  constant  exer- 
tion, is  separated  and  weaned  from  the  body." 

"  He  alone  is  a  great  man,  who  can  say  before 
God,  as  to  personal  affairs,  I  am  always  inclined  to 
sacrifice  my  own  pretensions  and  feelings,  to  gratify 
those  of  others.  But  as  to  matters  of  vital  impor- 
tance in  religion,  morals,  and  politics,  it  is  quite  as 
easy  to  force  or  flatter  me  out  of  principles,  as  it  is 
to  cause  Niagara  river  to  roll  its  waves  back  from  Lake 
Ontario  to  Lake  Erie." 

"  When  clouds  of  doubt  obscure  my  belief  in  the 
existence  of  God,  I  think  on  the  sun,  who  is  present, 
and  gives  us  daylight,  though  clouds  prevent  us  from 
seeing  him,  without  whom  we  could  not  see  any 
thing." 

"  The  secret  misgivings,  the  keen  upbraidings,  the 
unutterable  joys,  the  stern  demands  and  inspiring  im- 
pulses of  conscience. He  who  slew  Goliath  could 

not  stand  before  the  ewe  lamb  in  the  parable." 

"  Within  us  the  angel  of  divine  forgiveness  is  ever 
stirring  the  water,  inviting  us  to  descend  into  the 
depths  of  our  own  being." 

"  '  A  new  commandment  I  give  you,'  &c.  The 
commandment  is  ever  new,  the  duty  is  ever  new,  the 
love  should  be  ever  new." 


456  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  Knowledge  and  power,  instead  of  being  a  sub- 
stitute for  justice,  instead  of  exalting  the  oppressor, 
only  deepen  his  guilt,  and  fill  the  measure  of  his 
sin.  Vice  is  limited,  virtue  unlimited." 

"  Our  whole  existence  is  a  state  of  perpetual   pro-' 

.tion  and  continual  retribution  ;  every  moment  is  the 
reward  of  the  past,  and  the  preparation  for  the 
future." 

"  Men  are  afraid  to  see  spirits,  because  they  are  so 
little  acquainted  with  their  own  spiritual  self.  If  this 
were  not  the  case,  who  would  not  rejoice  at  being, 
even  by  his  senses,  confirmed  in  his  belief  in  a  world 
of  spirits  ? " 

"Cherish  this  growing  discontent  with  all  finite 
things,  finite  attainments,  finite  possessions  and  en- 
joyments." 

"  Let  us  learn  to  relish  the  sweetness  with  which 
the  Gospel  cherishes  every  latent  beauty  of  the  soul." 

"  Philanthropy  is  the  first  essential  manifestation  of 
religion,  that  is,  the  devotion  to  the  improvement  of 
the  immortal  soul." 

"  Every  one  is  capable  of  working  out  his  convic- 
tion of  his  immortality,  but  not  his  immortality." 

"  Christianity  will  prevail  in  spirit  and  in  truth, 
when  the  Scriptures  are  not  referred  to  as  proofs  of 
religious  truth,  but  as  the  most  important  means  of 
attaining  to  it.  It  is  necessary  first  to  build  up  Chris- 
tianity, as  it  is  derived  from  the  Bible,  in  the  minds  of 
Christians,  before  we  preach  the  resurrection  of  the 
spirit  from  the  dead  letter." 

"  That  simplicity  which  walks  by  faith,  which  is 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         457 

ever  ready  to  believe  what  it  has  not  seen,  gives  to 
the  miracles  the  assurance  of  experience,  and  to  the 
teachings  of  the  heart  their  true  heavenly  import,  by 
showing,  that  credulity  is  but  the  infancy  of  faith." 

"  The  performance  of  the  meanest  service,  when 
prompted  by  the  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  love,  is  full 

of  immortality. However  independent  the  head, 

the  heart  is  never  weaned." 

"  '  Did  not  our  hearts  burn  ? '  &c.  Just  so  the 
living  God  is  the  sought-for  object  of  thirst  and  de- 
sire. We  desire  one  that  will  join  us,  and  speak  to 
us  on  the  way,  and  explain  what  we  thirst  to  under- 
stand." 

"  The  belief  of  immortality  depends  on  virtue." 

"  Between  the  historian,  who  exhibits  that  which 
has  been,  and  is,  and  the  philosopher,  who  exhibits 
that  which  ought  to  be,  the  poet  takes  his  stand, 
striving  to  raise  the  actual  condition  to  the  eternal 
standard,  by  embodying  the  divine  image  in  form  bor- 
rowed from  reality,  and  thus  making  it  an  object  of 
wonder  and  love,  devout  aspiration,  and  earnest 
pursuit." 

"  How  much  better  would  it  be  for  society,  and  for 
the  true  dignity  and  happiness  of  individuals,  if  each 
one  with  true  humility  would  be  contented  to  say  with 
St.  Paul,  '  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am.'  " 

"  There  is  no  moral  effort  so  high  as  to  be  beyond 
the  aim,  though  it  be  beyond  the  reach,  of  any  human 
being." 

"  The  world  is  governed  by  laws  not  all  calculated 
for  man,  but  man's  nature  is  fitted  for  all  changes  and 

VOL.  i.  39 


458  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

chances.     The  essential  wants  of  every  man  secured 

not  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word. Why  ? 

The  universe  is  the  word  of  God,  it  is  his  book." 

"  Sickness  seems  to  be  meant  to  teach  us  the 
value  of  every  thing  which  belongs  to  existence,  nay, 
the  delight  vested  in  the  consciousness  of  existence 
itself,  when  all  else  is  converted  into  pain.  The 
faith  in  the  permanence  of  the  naked  spirit,  our  very 
self,  exalts  us  above  every  experience  of  present 
evil." 

"  The  Saviour  was  courageous  enough  to  despise 
the  appearance  of  cowardice.  He  was  a  solitary 
being.  The  officers  who  were  charged  to  seize 
Jesus  fell  to  the  ground,  but  the  children  who  came 
to  him  approached  without  fear." 

"  I  thank  God  that  I  have  been  allowed  to  embark 
in  this  great  ark  of  liberty,  floating  upon  the  deluge 
of  slavery  that  covers  the  East  and  the  West,  and 
bearing  within  it  the  seeds  of  the  regeneration  of  the 
human  race." 

..•  i  *  - 

When  the  time  came  for  Dr.  Follen  to  resume  his 
labors,  it  did  not  seem  as  if  it  were  task-work  he  was 
performing  ;  he  was  like  the  strong  man  who  was  to 
run  a  race.  He  loved  life  for  its  uses,  he  loved  his 
fellow-men  better  than  the  whole  visible  creation  be- 
sides. To  a  cultivated  friend,  he  himself  said,  "  No 
kind  of  natural  scenery  is  so  imposing  and  inspiring, 
so  full  of  moral  and  religious  interest,  as  the  society 
of  my  fellow-men  ; "  and  yet  he  had  been  a  devout 
worshipper  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Blanc,  and  drank 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          459 

into  the  depths  of  his  soul  the  glories  of  Niagara. 
Action,  noble  action,  he  thought  the  secret  of  happi- 
ness. "  The  most  perfect  use  of  all  our  faculties, 
the  greatest  possible  activity,  and  the  feeling  of  the 
agreement  of  the  state  of  our  existence  with  our 
natural  tendency,"  was  his  own  definition  of  happi- 
ness. 

It  was  a  favorite  purpose  of  Dr.  Follen's  to  bring 
the  religious  society  of  which  he  had  taken  charge 
more  together,  and  to  induce  that  intimate  and  friendly 
feeling  towards  each  other,  which  a  personal  acquaint- 
ance alone  gives.  For  this  purpose,  he  determined  to 
make  an  effort  to  assemble  them  often  together  in  a 
social  way  at  our  own  house.  We  set  apart  every 
Wednesday  evening  to  receive  all  visitors  who  were 
disposed  to  come.  This  plan  we  had  just  com- 
menced in  the  spring,  and  as  soon  as  we  returned,  he 
invited  the  whole  society  to  visit  him  on  Wednesday 
evenings.  We  made  no  preparation,  except  to  light 
our  rooms,  and  gave  no  entertainment,  except  a  glass 
of  water  to  those  who  desired  it.  It  was  understood 
that  all  should  come  in  their  usual  dress  ;  that  those 
who  were  so  disposed  might  wear  their  bonnets,  and 
that  from  seven  till  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  all 
should  come  and  go  as  they  pleased. 

These  social  parties  were  eminently  successful ;  in 
fair  weather  our  room  was  always  full,  and,  even  when 
it  was  stormy,  there  were  some  who  did  not  fail  to 
come.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  each 
other  many  who  had  found  the  divisions  of  the  pews 
impassable  barriers  to  a  friendly  acquaintance,  and 


460  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

who  have  since  become  true  and  warm  friends.  The 
rich  in  wordly  goods,  they  who  were  gifted  with  the 
heavenly  dowry  of  genius,  the  artisan  and  the  artist, 
the  flattered  favorites  of  the  world,  and  its  poor  for- 
gotten pilgrims,  the  homebound  conservative,  the  re- 
publican stranger,  whose  home  was  the  world,  and 
the  exiled  philanthropist,  the  child  and  his  proud 
grandparent,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  the  grave 
and  the  gay,  all  met  at  our  house,  and  passed  a  few  free 
and  happy  hours  in  an  unrestrained  and  friendly  inter- 
course, recognising  the  bond  of  brotherhood  which 
exists  between  the  members  of  God's  human  family. 
Few  things  ever  gave  Dr.  Follen  so  true  a  pleasure  as 
these  meetings,  not  merely  on  account  of  his  own 
actual  enjoyment  of  them,  but  as  they  established  the 
fact,  that  such  social  meetings  were  practicable,  and 
that  the  vanity,  and  expense,  and  precious  time,  that 
are  lavished  upon  show  parties  are  not  necessary,  in 
order  to  obtain  all  the  higher  purposes  of  social  inter- 
course ;  and  as  a  proof  that  people  have  a  purer  and 
better  taste  than  they  have  credit  for.  It  was  also 
a  high  gratification  to  his  republican  heart,  to  see 
that  it  was  possible  to  do  away  some  of  those  arbitrary 
distinctions  in  society,  which  prevent  the  highest  pro- 
gress and  improvement  of  all.  One  of  these  Wednes- 
day evenings  a  lady  was  present  who  belonged  to  a 
family,  that,  if  such  a  term  could  be  used  without 
absurdity  in  this  country,  might  be  called  patrician, 
but  who  had  herself  a  patent  of  nobility  from  Him, 
who  is  the  giver  of  all  things.  I  said  to  her,  "  That 
gentleman,  who  has  just  sung  the  Scotch  song  so 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  461 

well,  is  a  hair-dresser  ;  his  wife,  who,  as  well  as  him- 
self, is  from  Scotland,  and  who  has  been  talking  very 
intelligently  of  Mr.  Combe's  lectures,  which  she  at- 
tended in  her  own  country,  is  a  dress-maker.  That 
highly  intelligent  woman,  who  has  held  a  most  inter- 
esting correspondence  with  my  husband  upon  some 
theological  questions,  is  a  watch-maker's  wife.  That 
saintly  old  lady  is  the  wife  of  a  man  who  makes  India 
rubber  shoes,  &c.,  and  that  very  gentlemanly  and 
agreeable  man  is  a  tailor."  "I  hope,"  she  replied, 
"  that  the  time  will  come  when  such  things  will  not 
be  mentioned  as  extraordinary."  When  I  repeated 
this  to  my  husband,  after  the  company  were  gone, 
"  That  is  beautiful,"  he  said,  with  his  face  radiant  with 
joy.  He  never  forgot  it,  and  when  we  last  went  to 
New  York,  he  said,  "  We  must  go  and  see  that  truly 
republican  lady."  Dr.  Follen  often  said,  that  our 
freedom  was  a  fact,  rather  than  a  principle,  and  that 
nowhere  was  opinion  so  tyrannical,  as  in  this  boasted 
land  of  liberty.  He  resolved,  in  his  ministry  in  New 
York,  to  be  truly  faithful  to  his  own  principles.  He 
took  his  market-basket  daily  to  market,  and  brought 
home  our  dinner  himself.  He  practised  the  strictest 
economy,  that  he  might  have  something  to  give  to  the 
poor.  Mr.  Arnold,  and  Mr.  Channing,  who  had  been 
the  ministers  to  the  poor,  had  both  left  the  city. 
Provisions  were  dear,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  poor 
were  severe  ;  Dr.  Follen  volunteered  his  services, 
and  devoted  all  his  leisure  to  this  difficult  and  painful, 
though  interesting  duty.  His  labors  were  very  ardu- 
ous ;  the  poor  Germans,  when  they  knew  he  was  their 
39* 


462  LIFE   OP   CHARLES   POLLEN. 

countryman,  besieged  our  door  ;  and,  during  the  in- 
clement part  of  the  season,  it  was  seldom  that  we 
took  any  meal  without  some  poor  sufferer  waiting  till 
it  was  finished,  that  he  might  tell  his  sad  story,  and 
receive  his  portion  of  our  frugal  repast.  Dr.  Follen's 
labors  among  the  poor  would  have  been  a  sufficient 
employment  without  his  duties  in  his  parish,  and 
preaching  on  Sunday,  and  he  was  often  so  exhausted, 
that  I  feared  he  would  lose  his  health  entirely  ;  but  he 
felt  such  a  deep  interest,  such  an  inspiring  joy,  in 
these  occupations,  that  he  never  complained  of  the 
weariness  of  his  body.  He  always  found  time  to 
rite  at  least  the  first  part  of  a  sermon  every  week, 
the  conclusion  he  extemporized,  and  the  evening  lec- 
ture was  always  entirely  extempore.  He  gave,  during 
this  winter,  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  Domestic  and 
Social  Relations  ;  and  another,  by  the  particular  re- 
quest of  some  of  the  society,  on  the  doctrines  of 
Unitarianism. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  that  Lovejoy  was 
murdered,  while  defending  his  press  from  the  attacks 
of  the  people  of  Alton,  who  had  resolved,  that  no 
press  should  exist  in  their  city,  which  was  employed 
in  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the  slave.  Dr.  Follen's 
whole  soul  was  powerfully  moved  when  he  heard  of 
this  tragic  story  ;  but,  cruelly  painful  as  it  was  to  all 
immediately  connected  with  this  magnanimous  defend- 
er of  human  rights,  yet  he  believed  his  blood  would 
not  be  shed  in  vain.  This,  he  said,  was  an  event  that 
should  be  commemorated,  not  by  the  Anti-slavery 
Society  alone  ;  the  freedom  of  the  press,  the  liberty 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN.  463 

of  every  American  citizen,  was  in  question.  He 
thought  all  good  men  would  unite  upon  this  occasion  ; 
he  noticed  it  in  his  prayers  the  Sunday  after  he  heard 
of  it  ;  he  wished  the  Anti-slavery  Society  to  appear 
only  as  a  part  of  the  community,  jealous  of  their 
rights  as  men  and  as  citizens,  in  the  expression  of 
their  indignation  at  such  a  barbarous  act.  It  was  in 
vain  he  hoped  and  urged  it  ;  an  effort  was  made  by 
some  of  the  noble-minded  young  men  of  the  city,  but 
they  met  with  no  sympathy  from  their  elders. 

The  Anti-slavery  Society  resolved  to  notice  pub- 
licly this  disgraceful  event,  and  at  least  to  give  their 
testimony  to  the  character  of  this  martyr  to  a  great 
principle.  They  put  Dr.  Pollen's  name  upon  the 
committee  of  arrangements  for  the  great  meeting  at  the 
Tabernacle,  but  he  took  no  part  in  it ;  it  was  not  what 
he  wished  ;  he  felt  that  it  was  narrowing  the  ground 
of  its  importance  for  any  one  society  to  take  it  up  ; 
he  hoped  that,  throughout  the  whole  country,  there 
would  go  forth  a  general  and  indignant  protest  against 
such  an  outrage  upon  the  rights  of  all.  These  were 
his  feelings  and  purposes  ;  yet,  when  he  saw  his  name 
upon  the  list  of  the  committee  of  arrangements  for  the 
commemoration  of  the  death  of  Lovejoy  by  the  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  he  would  not  withdraw  it,  because  he 
was  aware  of  the  prejudice  and  angry  feeling  that  ex- 
isted towards  the  Anti-slavery  Society,  and  he  feared 
that  his  motives  might  be  questioned.  One  of  his 
parish,  who  met  him  in  the  street,  expressed  his  re- 
gret at  seeing  his  name  in  the  paper  in  connexion  with 
Mr.  Tappan  &  Co.  ;  others  told  him,  that  it  would 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


greatly  injure  his  prospects  in  New  York;  and  in 
various  ways  he  was  made  to  feel  that  there  was  no 
sympathy  with  his  views  and  feelings  among  the  ma- 
jority of  his  people.  This  was  comparatively  of 
little  moment  to  him  ;  but,  that  every  honorable  man 
in  the  community  did  not  rise  up  and  give  the  weight 
of  his  name  and  character  against  such  an  infringe- 
ment of  one  of  the  dearest  rights  of  a  citizen  of  a 
free  country,- —  this  did  excite  his  deepest  indignation. 
He  speaks  of  the  meeting  at  the  Tabernacle  in  a 
letter  to  Harriet  Martineau. 

£ 

"December  llth,  1837. 
"  DEAR  HARRIET, 

u  We  had  here  in  New  York,  at  the  Tabernacle, 
an  anti-slavery  celebration  of  the  martyrdom  of  Love- 
joy.  There  were  nearly  five  thousand  persons  pres- 
ent. A  disturbance  was  threatened,  and  attempted, 
by  a  small  number,  who  counted  upon  the  sympathy 
of  the  assembly.  The  noise  of  the  few  was  rendered 
audible  by  the  profound  silence  of  the  assembly,  upon 
which  the  constables  took  courage,  and  arrested  two, 
and  this  put  an  end  to  all  disturbance.  The  exercises 
were  dull,  except  the  mere  recital  of  the  facts,  and 
the  concluding  prayer.  We  should  have  gained  more, 
perhaps,  if  the  defence  of  the  liberty  of  the  press 
had  been  made  the  principal  ground  of  the  celebra- 
tion, rather  than  the  anti-slavery  principle  which  he 
advocated  ;  at  least,  so  it  appears  to  me.  Still,  one 
thing  seems  established,  that  no  anti-slavery  mob  can 
be  excited  again  in  this  city,  notwithstanding  the  rage 


LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  465 

of  the  merchants  connected  with  the  South.  I  was 
warned  by  some  of  the  trustees  of  my  church  against 
giving  my  name  to  the  meeting,  and  going  to  it,  but  I 

went  with  Eliza  and  S ,  "who  would  not  be  left  at 

home. 

"  I  read  and  write  nothing  ;  next  to  nothing  ;  I 
compose  my  sermons  in  turning  the  corners  of  the 
streets,  spinning  street-yarns;  still,  I  am  learning 
while  growing  unlearned.  You  will  think  of  us  on 
New  Year's  night,  and  you  will  be  in  the  midst  of  us. 
God  bless  you. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

"  JVeta  York,  January  16th,  1838. 

"  Some  affairs  allow  me  only  time  enough  to  join 
in  Eliza's  message  of  love  to  you,  dearest  Harriet. 
You  will  hear  from  us  again  very  soon,  and  then  you 
will  know  the  result  of  the  deliberation  on  which  my 
situation  in  this  city  depends.  We  do  not  allow  this 
uncertainty  to  disturb  our  tranquillity.  A  strong  mi- 
nority against  me  would  be  sufficient  to  determine 
me  to  decline  the  invitation  ;  and  we  shall  be  glad  to 
retire  for  six  months,  at  least,  to  meditate  on  the 
bustling,  restless  life  we  have  been  leading  ;  and  then 
I  shall  have  some  leisure  to  write. 

"  We  are  laboring  on,  rejoicing  in  the  little  we 
have  accomplished,  and  cherishing  the  holy  fire  of 
discontent  with  all  finite  attainments.  In  all  our  trials 
of  suspense  and  disappointment,  your  love  is  to  us  a 
sure  reliance,  and  your  faithful,  resolute  spirit  a  pres- 
ent help. 


466  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  The  refusal  of  Congress  to  receive  petitions 
against  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  adds 
strength  to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  because  it  identifies 
it,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  with  the  right  of  pe- 
tition and  freedom  of  discussion. 

"  We  are  looking  forward  with  great  interest  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  Canada  affairs  are  viewed 
in  England.  The  public  opinion  here  is  of  course 
determined  by  existing  interests  ;  on  the  frontier,  local 
sympathies  and  antipathies  prevail.  In  the  country, 
generally,  men  of  principle  approve  of  the  insurrec- 
tion, on  the  ground  of  the  right  of  self-government, 
and  opposition  to  foreign  influence,  supported  by  the 
aristocracy  in  the  province.  Others  again  are  moved 
by  the  selfish  and  absurd  principle  of  annexation  to 
this  country.  This  is  favored  by  the  far-sighted  slave- 
holders, who  are  intent  upon  destroying  that  asylum 
for  fugitive  slaves,  which,  of  course,  would  be  the 
consequence  of  Canada's  becoming  part  of  the  United 
States.  For  the  same  reason,  Abolitionists  are  op- 
posed to  the  movement  in  Canada,  at  least  so  far  as 
countenanced  by  selfish  politicians  amongst  us.  But 
1  must  close. 

"Yours  affectionately, 

"C.   FOLLEN." 

The  opportunity  which  his  residence  in  New  York 
afforded  Dr.  Follen  of  observing  the  influence  of  party 
spirit,  and  the  unjustifiable  acts  to  which  it  gave  rise, 
led  him  to  think  more  than  ever  of  its  evils.  He  often 
spoke  in  the  pulpit  against  such  acts,  and  against  the 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  467 

injustice  and  disregard  of  the  rights  of  all,  which  lay 
at  the  foundation  of  such  wrongs.  He  constantly- 
prayed  that  all  cruel  distinctions  among  children  of  a 
common  Parent  might  cease  ;  that  every  bond  of 
iniquity  might  be  broken,  and  that  they  who  called 
themselves  Christians,  might  recognise,  in  the  most 
wretched  and  degraded  human  beings,  brothers  and 
sisters,  created  in  the  image  of  the  common  Father. 
He  preached  a  sermon  from  the  text,  "  I  have  come 
not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil,"  showing  that  both  the 
conservative  and  the  reformer  had  a  right  principle  in 
view  ;  that  the  true  follower  of  Jesus,  while  he  held 
sacred  all  that  was  good  in  an  existing  establishment, 
was  the  most  unsparing  reformer  of  what  was  wrong. 

"  These  words  of  Jesus,"  he  said,  "  contained  the 
elements  of  the  two  great  antagonist  principles  which 
divide  the  world.  They  are  at  the  bottom  of  all  the 
agitation  that  is  shaking  society  to  its  centre,  both  in 
this  country,  and  in  the  empires  of  the  old  world. 

"  Who  does  not  see,  when  he  considers  these  words 
in  connexion  with  all  the  doings  of  Jesus,  who  does 
not  see  the  conservative  principle,  and  the  element 
of  reform,  united  in  the  character  and  the  mission  of 
the  Saviour  of  mankind  ?  With  regard  to  the  essen- 
tial doctrines  and  the  moral  commandments  of  the 
law,  he  speaks  as  a  conservative  ;  with  regard  to  the 
ceremonial  law,  he  appears  as  a  reformer.  Now,  the 
true  conservative,  after  the  example  of  Jesus,  sets 
out  with  the  view  to  preserve  whatever,  in  established 
opinions  and  institutions,  is  sound  and  salutary,  and 
not,  as  his  prejudiced  antagonist  may  suppose,  to 


468  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

support  the  existing  order  of  things  from  a  supersti- 
tious belief,  that  whatever  is  is  good.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  reformer,  who  has  the  spirit  of  the 
chief  of  reformers,  is  not  prompted  by  a  restless 
desire,  such  as  his  prejudiced  antagonist  imputes  to 
him,  to  make  all  things  new,  as  if  their  newness  alone 
was  sufficient  to  establish  their  superiority  over  old 
things  ;  but  he  proceeds  on  the  supposition,  that  all 
that  is  human,  whether  it  be  of  a  speculative  or  prac- 
tical character,  is  susceptible  of  improvement,  and 
therefore  needs  reform. 

"  The  prejudiced  reformer  forgets  that  the  great 
object  of  change  is  stability.  We  strive  after  truth, 
that  shall  prove  truth  not  only  to-day  and  to-morrow, 
but  at  all  times.  Even  with  regard  to  those  things 
which  in  their  nature  are  subject  to  continual  change, 
we  seek  after  permanent  principles,  that  control  the 
change.  By  this  means  the  mariner  is  able  to  trav- 
erse the  unstable  wave  according  to  the  certain  direc- 
tions of  the  compass  and  the  chart.  Thus  the  legis- 
lator strives  to  regulate  the  ever-changing  relations 
between  men  by  the  law  of  the  land,  which  he  en- 
deavours to  render  permanent,  by  making  it  the  ex- 
pression of  the  law  of  nature,  and  of  the  rights  of 
man,  which  are  the  same  every  day  and  for  ever. 
And  there  are  in  religion  those  who,  not  held  in  bonds 
by  sectarian  prejudice,  are  seeking  after  universal 
principles  of  faith,  that  shall  be  convincing  and  in- 
spiring to  all  minds  and  hearts  ;  and  they  would  fain 
express  and  communicate  these  great  principles  in 
words  as  significant  and  plain  as  that  universal  Ian- 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  469 

guage  in  which  '  the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handy  work.' 

"  Thus,  the  great  object  of  change  and  reform  is 
not  change  and  reform,  but  to  find  the  most  perfect, 
and  therefore  most  permanent,  form  in  law  and  in  reli- 
gion, in  science  and  in  art,  in  public  and  in  domestic 
life.  On  the  other  hand,  we  see  the  prejudiced  con- 
servative defending  the  present  state  of  things  because 
it  does  exist,  or  because  he  believes  that  nothing 
would  come  to  pass  without  the  permission  of  Provi- 
dence, and  that,  therefore,  whatever  is  is  right.  He 
who  reasons  thus,  forgets  that  this  view  of  Providence 
would  protect  and  justify  the  liar,  the  robber,  the 
murderer,  and  every  kind  of  error  and  crime,  as 
well  as  truth,  virtue,  and  piety. 

"Not  the  unanimous  consent  of  a  whole  nation, 
nay,  of  all  nations  and  all  ages,  can  justify  a  single 
individual  in  the  commission  or  omission  of  a  single 
act.  If  a  whole  nation,  by  the  most  solemn  expres- 
sion of  their  sovereign  will,  should  sanction  robbery 
or  oppression,  it  would  not  make  robbery  or  oppres- 
sion right,  but  it  would  make  the  whole  nation  a  band 
of  robbers  and  oppressors. 

"  With  this  view  of  the  main  question  at  issue  be- 
tween the  conservative  and  the  reformer,  it  seems  to 
me  a  decided  mark  of  a  superficial  mind  to  take  side 
either  for  or  against  an  opinion  or  measure,  and  to 
vote  with  one  or  the  other  party  in  politics  or  religion, 
merely  as  having  a  radical  or  a  conservative  character 
and  tendency.  With  a  man  of  sense,  the  first  and 
only  question  must  be,  whether  the  point  in  dispute, 

VOL.  i.  40 


470         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

be  it  an  article  of  faith,  or  a  social  institution,  is  worth 
preserving,  or  susceptible  of  improvement. 

"  He  examines  the  merits  of  every  case,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  result  of  his  investigation,  he  is  either 
an  unyielding  conservative,  or  a  radical  reformer." 

In  describing  the  true  Christian  reformer,  Dr.  Fol- 
len unconsciously  portrayed  himself.  Progress  and 
improvement  were,  indeed,  the  law  of  his  nature  ; 
but  all  that  actually  existed,  especially  when  hallowed 
by  time  and  sentiment,  was  sacred  to  him,  unless 
there  was  a  higher  motive  for  destroying,  than  for  re- 
taining it.  This  tenderness,  that  he  felt  for  what  was 
holy  in  the  view  of  another  mind,  he  has  thus  ex- 
pressed ; 

"  The  spirit  of  true  religion  is  often  embodied  in 
prejudice,  and  says  to  the  presumptuous  reformer, 
who  approaches  with  an  unsparing  hand,  c  Touch  me 
not,  for  I  am  not  yet  risen '  to  that  state  of  light  in 
which  I  can  exist  without  this  perishable  body." 

While  Dr.  Follen  had  unlimited  faith  in  human 
strength,  he  never  forgot  human  weakness.  He  made 
no  vain  boasts  of  his  own  strength.  In  speaking  of 
the  trials  which  those  must  endure,  who  sacrifice  their 
interests  in  their  fidelity  to  an  unpopular  cause,  he 
says,  in  a  sermon,  "  I  suppose  no  individual,  ever 
so  independent,  can  pass  through  such  a  change  of 
circumstances,  without  being  sensibly  affected,  with- 
out being  sorely  tempted  to  prove  unfaithful  to  him- 
self, and  to  judge  of  the  moral  worth  of  his  motives 
by  their  outward  consequences." 

During  this  winter,  Dr.  Follen  received  a  very 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  471 

interesting  visit  from  M.  Darusmond,  the  husband 
of  Miss  Fanny  Wright.  This  gentleman  was  his  fel- 
low-passenger in  the  Cadmus,  under  the  name  of 
Pbiquepal.  Dr.  Follen  was  at  that  time  much  im- 
pressed with  his  philanthropy,  and  with  his  admirable 
views  upon  the  subject  of  education,  and  his  signal 
success  in  the  actual  management  of  some  boys  under 
his  care.  When  M.  Darusmond  came  to  New 
York,  hearing  that  Dr.  Follen  was  in  the  city,  he 
passed  a  long  evening  with  him,  striving  to  engage 
his  interest  and  aid  in  a  plan  he  had  much  at  heart, 
for  establishing  a  community,  upon  the  principle 
of  an  exact  justice,  where  each  one  should  have 
an  equal  opportunity  for  efficient  action,  such  as 
was  best  suited  to  his  nature,  and  should  receive 
an  adequate  compensation  for  his  labor,  and  where 
the  surplus  wealth  should  be  employed  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  all ;  so  that  the  best  education, 
and  the  highest  civilization  should  be  secured  for  each 
and  all.  Such  a  project  could  not  fail  to  interest  a 
mind  like  Dr.  Follen's.  But  he  thought  such  a  state 
of  things  must  be  the  result  of  a  genuine  philanthro- 
py, of  an  enlarged  Christian  policy,  and  that,  if  it  de- 
pended upon  arbitrary  laws,  or  involved  the  infringe- 
ment of  the  rights  of  any  one,  the  evil  would  be 
greater  than  the  good.  He  thought  such  a  state  of 
things  would  require  the  revival  of  that  spirit  which 
was  in  the  disciples,  when  "  All  that  believed  were 
together,  and  had  all  things  common  ;  and  sold  their 
possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men  as 
every  man  had  need."  For  such  a  state  he  ever 


472         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

prayed,  and  in  its  practicability  he  loved  to  believe. 
But  one  foundation  of  this  faith  was  wanting  in 
M.  Darusmond.  Religion  was  to  have  no  part  in  his 
community  ;  for,  said  he,  "Wherever  religion  has  had 
any  power,  there  have  been  persecution  and  cruelty." 
Dr.  Follen  acknowledged  this  fact,  but  labored  to 
convince  him  that  it  was  not  true,  but  false  religion, 
and  its  ambitious,  selfish  ministers,  and  ignorant  bigots, 
that  had  persecuted  ;  but  he  could  not  succeed  in  his 
purpose.  Here  was  the  radical  difference  between  the 
two  philanthropists.  Darusmond  believed  in  the  im- 
mortality of  the  race,  the  other,  in  that  of  each  and 
every  individual.  One  would  tolerate  every  thing  that 
was  honest  except  religion  in  his  community,  the  other 
would  assign  no  limits  but  those  of  justice  to  his 
toleration.  One  urged,  that  wherever  religion  had 
existed,  the  rights  of  man  had  been  set  aside  ;  the 
other,  that  true  religion  is  the  law  of  mutual  rights,  as 
well  as  the  bond  of  perfectness.  M.  Darusmond 
tried  to  convince  Dr.  Follen,  that  they  did  not  disa- 
gree except  in  words,  and  that  it  was  impossible  he 
could  believe  in  any  Deity  separate  from  nature,  or 
in  any  other  state  of  existence  than  the  present,  for 
any  individual.  I  was  present  at  the  conversation, 
and  saw  the  flush  that  suffused  Dr.  Follen's  face,  as 
he  heard  this  ;  and  I  heard  his  fervent  declaration  of  his 
faith  in  immortality.  The  benevolent  old  man  left  us 
in  a  depressed  state  of  mind,  very  different  from  the 
eager  enthusiasm  with  which  he  had  commenced  the 
conversation.  He  had  with  him  a  most  beautiful  litile 
girl  of  about  eight  years  of  age.  "  There,"  said 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  473 

Dr.  Follen,  as  he  left  us,  "  is  that  noble  old  man 
spending  his  thoughts,  his  time,  and  his  money,  for 
what  he  considers  the  highest  good  of  his  fellow-men, 
with  a  youthful  devotedness  and  enthusiasm  of  be- 
nevolence, carrying  in  his  heart  the  evidences  of  his 
immortality,  and  yet  tenacious  of  the  belief,  that  he 
and  his  beautiful  child,  and  all  that  he  loves  best  in 
the  world,  and  all  his  generous  and  exalted  purposes 
and  hopes,  are  but  a  part  of  the  dust  he  treads  on. 
What  a  lesson  does  his  magnanimous  love  for  his 
fellow-beings  teach  to  the  multitudes  of  cold,  calcu- 
lating men  and  women  we  see,  who  take  the  name  of 
him  who  was  the  first  and  greatest  of  all  philanthro- 
pists, and  who  call  him  an  infidel,  and  are  eager  to 
condemn  him." 

Dr.  Follen  delivered  a  lecture  this  winter  before 
the  Brooklyn  Lyceum,  upon  Republicanism,  and  the 
Duties  of  American  Citizens.  In  this  he  spoke  again 
very  strongly  upon  slavery,  pointing  out  the  incon- 
sistency and  want  of  principle  in  republicans  holding 
slaves  ;  he  heard  of  no  objections  to  his  discourse. 

When  he  decided  to  remain  with  the  society  for 
another  year,  he  resolved  to  turn  his  mind  as  much  as 
possible  from  himself  and  his  own  interests,  and  to 
think  simply  how  he  could  benefit  the  society  during 
the  time  he  was  their  pastor.  The  church  had  been 
always  full  ;  but  a  circumstance  occurred,  which  sen- 
sibly diminished  the  number  of  his  hearers.  From  the 
time  that  the  hour  of  service  had  been  changed,  it 
had  been  the  custom  to  advertise  the  subject  of  the 
evening  lecture  ;  this  had  brought  many  strangers  to 
40* 


474         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

the  church.  But  after  a  while  the  trustees  resolved 
that  this  was  an  unnecessary  expense,  and  the  adver- 
tisements were  discontinued.  The  strangers,  who 
were  in  the  habit  of  seeing  a  notice  of  the  lectures  in 
Chambers  Street  in  the  paper,  concluded  that  they 
were  discontinued,  and  of  course  they  stayed  away. 
But  this  did  not  trouble  Dr.  Follen  much  ;  his  attach- 
ment to  the  city  had  increased,  his  enjoyment  of  so 
wide  a  sphere  of  activity,  his  growing  interest  in  the 
poor,  and  his  love  of  the  occupations  of  a  religious 
teacher,  strengthened  by  his  increased  facility  in  the 
use  of  our  language,  and  a  real  consciousness  of 
greater  power  and  experience,  added  to  his  hopeful 
temperament,  made  him  sanguine,  as  well  as  desirous, 
that,  in  some  way  or  other,  he  should  be  established 
in  New  York.  He  would  often  say,  "  I  see  so  much 
to  be  done  here,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  was  doing  some- 
thing ;  I  think  it  is  my  place.  It  is  a  noble  city,  full 
of  fine  materials  ;  there  are,  to  be  sure,  great  evils 
here,  but  the  greater  the  call  for  the  exertions  of  the 
Christian  minister."  He  thought  it  right,  however, 
to  desire  the  trustees  would  make  known  their  pur- 
poses with  regard  to  him,  in  season  for  him  to  make 
other  arrangements  at  the  expiration  of  his  engage- 
ment, in  case  his  further  services  were  not  desired. 
In  the  latter  part  of  January  some  of  the  trustees  waited 
upon  him,  for  the  purpose  of  making  him  a  proposal 
for  the  ensuing  year. 

When  he  returned  from  a  conference  with  these 
gentlemen,  I  saw  that  his  face,  usually  so  calm,  was 
flushed,  and  looked  disturbed,  and  there  was  a  deep 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN.  475 

depression  in  his  manner.  As  soon  as  we  were  alone, 
he  said,  "  I  am  sure  no  insult  was  intended  to  me  ;  but 
a  proposition  has  been  made  to  me,  which,  if  I  were 
to  accept  it,  would  degrade  me  in  my  own  eyes,  and 
in  the  opinion  of  all  who  know  me.  They  wish  me 
to  retain  my  place  here,  but  to  supply  the  desk  only 
a  part  of  the  time  myself,  and  to  invite  other  candi- 
dates to  preach  as  often  as  I  can,  that  they  may  be 
able  to  ascertain  whom  they  should  prefer  to  me. 
They  have  a  right  to  their  choice,  and  1  well  know 
that  the  gentleman  who  brought  the  proposal  from  the 
whole  committee  meant  me  no  wrong  ;  but  the  situa- 
tion in  which  it  would  place  me,  and  whomever  I  put 
into  the  desk,  would  be  as  awkward  and  unpleasant,  as  it 
would  be  undignified.  I  shall,  of  course,  refuse,  and, 
as  soon  as  is  proper,  resign  my  place  here."  Dr.  Fol- 
len  would  not  reply  to  this  proposal  till  his  serenity 
was  perfectly  restored,  and  the  painful  feeling  it  had 
excited  had  passed  away  ;  he  then  sent  the  follow- 
ing letter  to  Mr.  Ainslie,  the  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees. 

"  TO    ROBERT    AINSLIE,    ESQ. 

"  New  York,  Jan.  25th,  1838. 
"DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  have  taken  into  full  consideration  the  proposal 
of  the  standing  committee,  which  yourself  and  Mr. 
B.  F.  Wheelwright  communicated  to  me  on  Friday 
last.  The  committee  propose  to  reengage  my  ser- 
vices for  one  year  from  the  first  of  next  May,  with 
the  understanding,  that  during  that  time  other  clergy- 


476  LIFE   OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

men  should  be  occasionally  invited  to  supply  the 
pulpit,  in  order  to  gratify  those  members  of  the  so- 
ciety, who  desire  a  more  ample  opportunity  of  com- 
paring different  preachers  before  they  proceed  to  a 
permanent  settlement.  After  consulting  with  a  num- 
ber of  my  friends,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion, 
respectfully  to  decline  this  proposal.  However  far 
my  attainments  may  have  fallen  below  my  earnest 
desires,  I  -cannot  promise  to  do  more  or  better  than 
I  have  hitherto  endeavoured  to  do  in  my  ministry  ; 
and  for  this  reason  I  cannot  but  think  that  another 
experiment,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  would  not  be 
profitable  either  to  myself  or  to  the  society. 
"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

Some  of  the  society,  who  were  anxious  that  Dr. 
Follen  should  remain  with  them  as  their  pastor,  when 
they  heard  of  this  proposal  from  the  trustees,  and  that 
of  course  it  had  been  rejected,  made  an  effort  to 
ascertain  the  wishes  of  the  whole  society  with  regard 
to  his  settlement.  A  parish  meeting  was,  by  their 
exertions,  called  in  February,  to  act  upon  the  ques- 
tion, whether  Dr.  Follen  should  be  invited  to  be  their 
pastor  permanently.  He  was  informed,  that  those 
who  were  opposed  to  him  showed  at  this  meeting 
such  a  determination  and  warmth  of  feeling  against 
him,  as  he  was  not  before  aware  of.  Some,  who 
worshipped  at  the  other  Unitarian  church,  but  who 
owned  pews  in  this,  came  to  vote  against  him  ;  there 
was  an  effort  made  to  silence  one  of  his  friends,  who 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  477 

wished  to  state  the  fact,  that  he  had  a  long  list  of 
names  of  men,  who  wished  to  take  pews  if  Dr.  Follen 
were  settled  ;  and,  without  any  question  being  taken, 
the  meeting  was  adjourned  to  the  4th  of  March.  As 
soon  as  Dr.  Follen  heard  these  facts,  he  decided, 
without  any  hesitation,  to  refuse  being  considered  a 
candidate  for  the  office  of  pastor  of  their  church  ;  and 
he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees. 

"  TO    ROBERT    AINSLIE,    ESQ. 

11  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  lay  before  the  ad- 
journed meeting  of  our  society,  on  Sunday,  the  4th 
instant,  the  following  communication,  previous  to  any 
vote  being  taken  in  relation  to  the  object  of  the 
meeting. 

"  I  have  learned  that  a  number  of  persons  belong- 
ing to  this  congregation,  think  it  expedient  that  they 
should  have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  several  preach- 
ers before  the  society  proceed  to  the  choice  of  a 
pastor.  This  desire  on  their  part  seems  to  me  very 
reasonable.  It  is,  therefore,  my  decided  wish,  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  that  the  society  would  postpone 
the  choice  of  a  pastor  until  this  opportunity  has  been 
afforded  to  all  who  may  desire  it. 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"  JVeio  York,  March  ls£,  1838." 

Thus  terminated  Dr.  Follen's  connexion  with  the 


478  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

New  York  church.  It  would  be  vain  and  false,  to 
pretend  that  this  was  not  a  great  disappointment  to 
him.  Whenever  he  had  allowed  himself  to  think  of 
his  own  affairs,  he  had  trusted,  that  the  opposition  of 
a  few  would  give  way  to  what  he  fondly  hoped  was 
the  wish  of  the  great  majority  of  the  society.  Some 
one  had  told  him,  that  the  gentleman  from  Mr. 
Dewey's  society,  who  had  left  the  church  when  he 
spoke  of  slavery,  had  said,  at  a  public  meeting,  that 
the  Chambers-Street  church  would  never  prosper 
while  it  retained  its  present  pastor  ;  this  led  him  to 
think,  that  his  anti-slavery  opinions,  or  rather  his  ex- 
pression of  them,  might  be  the  cause  of  his  failure. 
This  was  a  consolation  to  him  ;  —  from  his  earliest 
youth  he  had  dedicated  himself  to  the  cause  of  freedom, 
cheerfully  and  solemnly,  and  now  he  stood  ready  to 
struggle,  and,  if  need  were,  again  to  suffer  for  her  sake. 
But  he  began  to  feel,  that  the  tyranny  of  opinion  in  a 
republic  was  not  much  less  galling  and  oppressive 
than  the  arbitrary  laws  of  monarchical  Europe. 

This  lamentable  inconsistency  of  republicans  did 
not  destroy  his  faith  in  their  free  institutions,  and  in  the 
principles  which  they  were  so  unfaithful  to.  He 
thought  this  country  the  most  hopeful  place  for  man- 
kind ;  and  whenever  I  asked  him,  if,  when  we  went 
to  Switzerland,  he  should  remain  there  if  he  found 
employment,  he  always  answered,  "  No,  I  wish 
my  son  to  be  an  American,  and  to  be  educated  as 
such.  I  yet  hope  America  will  be  worthy  of  the 
name  of  a  republic.  She  is  the  great  hope  of  the 
world." 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         479 

As  soon  as  it  was  decided  that  we  were  to  leave 
New  York,  Dr.  Follen  wrote  to  Dr.  Charming  and 
other  friends,  to  ask  them  to  engage  the  supply  of 
some  pulpit,  if  possible,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Boston  ;  and  from  that  moment  we  began  to  turn  our 
thoughts  to  the  pleasures  and  advantages  of  a  resi- 
dence in  New  England,  and  to  the  great  joy  of 
returning  to  our  own  family  and  dear  old  friends. 
"  Now,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  preach  in  New  York 
better  than  ever.  I  shall,  if  possible,  speak  my  mind 
even  plainer  than  I  ever  have  before.  I  shall  do  my 
best  for  them  before  I  leave  them."  The  sermons 
that  he  preached  at  this  time  were  very  eloquent,  but 
very  few  of  them  were  entirely  written  ;  he  preferred 
to  extemporize,  and  he  did  so  with  an  increasing 
facility  and  effect. 

The  notes  for  one  sermon  that  he  preached  at  this 
period  will  have  an  interest,  as  he  was  undoubtedly 
led  to  the  subject  of  it  by  his  own  personal  feelings. 

"  What  is  the  object  of  evil  in  the  world  ?  To 
make  us  more  perfect,  more  worthy  of  happiness, 
and  in  the  end  more  happy  ;  therefore  let  us  take  our 
cross  for  the  glory  that  is  set  before  us.  No  relish  of 
good  without  the  experience  of  evil. 

"  Enlargement  of  the  question.  Why  is  man  born 
to  suffering  ?  why  has  he  to  go  through  so  many 
hardships  and  dangers  until  he  grow  up  to  be  a  man, 
and  then  to  toil  on  to  his  end,  to  be  liable  to  tempta- 
tion and  sin,  to  sickness,  and  at  last  to  death  ?  Every 
trade  and  profession  has  to  be  acquired  through  toil 
and  pain.  The  man  who  does  not  experience  pain 


480  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

from  other  sources,  from  taking  an  active  part  in  life, 
suffers  from  ennui.  Why  are  so  many  oppressed  ? 
Why  has  freedom  to  be  bought  with  blood  ?  Why 
the  evil  of  war  ?  Why  all  sorts  of  sin  ? 

"  I  do  not  now  inquire  in'o  the  sources  of  particu- 
lar evil,  but  of  evil  itself  and  in  general.  If  I  ask, 
Why  is  this  man  in  pain  ?  you  may  answer,  He  is  ill 
with  fever.  And  whence  the  fever  ?  From  too  hard 
labor,  or  from  intemperance.  But  why  are  there  such 
evils  as  the  necessity  of  too  hard  toil,  or  intemper- 
ance, or  any  other  evil  or  sin  in  the  world  ?  How 
can  we  reconcile  it  with  the  goodness  of  God  ?  Why 
were  Jesus  and  his  apostles,  the  martyrs  of  Chris- 
tianity, left  to  suffer  ?  They  were  inspired,  they 
were  enabled  to  perform  miracles,  but  to  save  them- 
selves from  suffering  was  none  of  their  miraculous 
gifts  bestowed. 

"  With  regard  to  those  who  deserve  punishment, 
the  evil,  if  it  does  not  exceed  its  object,  is  easily 
accounted  for  ;  but  how  is  it  that  those  men,  who 
spend  their  lives  in  ministering  to  the  wants  and  the 
distresses  of  others,  are  not  themselves  saved  from 
sickness  and  misery  ?  '  Count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall 
into  divers  temptations.'  '  Who,  for  the  joy  that  was 
set  before  him,  endured  the  cross.'  '  They  who  sow 
in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy.'  Why,  if  suffering  was 
made  a  part  of  our  lot,  why  was  reason  given  us,  a 
thousandfold  to  increase  our  sufferings  by  endeavour- 
ing to  find  their  cause  and  object  ? 

"  We  are  perfected  by  suffering.  When  Huss 
was  led  to  the  flames,  which  were  to  destroy  his  mor- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  481 

tal  body  by  a  slow  and  cruel  death,  he  saw  an  ignorant 
old  woman,  whom  he  had  been  kind  to,  eagerly  pick- 
ing up  sticks  to  throw  upon  the  fire  that  was  to  con- 
sume him.  '  O  holy  simplicity  ! '  he  exclaimed.  He 
was  made  perfect  by  suffering.  Many  evils  we  can- 
not account  for  ;  but,  for  many,  and  for  the  greatest 
of  evils,  sin,  we  can  account  ;  and  is  it  not  rational  to 
suppose  that  the  others  too  can  be  accounted  for  ? 
No  necessity  of  sin,  though  temptation  is  necessary  to 
our  moral  perfection. 

"  Suffering  brings  out  great  virtues  ;  trial  of  faith, 
trust,  sympathy,  patience,  courage." 

Between  this  time  and  his  leaving  New  York,  in 
May,  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  Dra- 
matic Works  of  Schiller.  He  had  a  very  respectable 
audience,  and  the  pleasure  they  expressed  in  the  sub- 
ject was  very  gratifying.  The  enthusiasm  which  was 
manifested  by  his  hearers  for  the  plays  of  Schiller, 
which  he  read  to  them,  was  a  true  enjoyment  to  him. 
He  read  with  an  uncommon  beauty  and  effect.  Some 
good  judges  of  reading  were  among  his  hearers,  and 
expressed  very  great  pleasure  at  hearing  him  ;  and 
urged  him  to  give  a 'similar  course  on  Shakspeare. 
Of  all  poets  Schiller  was  his  favorite.  He  could 
never  read  "  William  Tell  "  without  being  almost 
overcome  by  his  emotions. 

The  winter  soon  passed,  and  the  time  carrte  to  say 
farewell  to  our  many  dear  friends.  At  our  last 
Wednesday  evening  meeting,  the  company,  which 
was  large,  joined  in  singing  "  Auld  Lang  Syne" 
before  we  parted.  There  were  many  sad  hearts  and* 

VOL.  i.  41 


482         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

mafiy  tearful  eyes  in  that  assembly.  After  they  were 
all  gone,  "  I  could  not  have  commanded  myself  much 
longer,"  said  my  husband.  "  These  evenings  have 
been  so  pleasant.  We  have  not  failed  in  this,  at 
least.  Now  they  will  be  scattered  again,  but  it  is  yet 
something  to  have  brought  them  together."  He 
sighed  heavily  ;  his  heart  was  oppressed. 

Our  excellent  friend,  Chancellor  M'Coun,  and  his 
family,  whom  we  loved  too  much  to  talk  of  gratitude 
for  their  numberless  favors,  invited  us  to  their  house, 
till  our  furniture  was  packed  and  stored,  for  we  had 
no  house  of  our  own  to  go  to  while  this  was  doing. 
We  now  had  to  find  ourselves  a  new  home.  As  it 
was  most  likely  we  should  remove  to  some  distance, 
every  article  of  furniture  was  to  be  carefully  boxed. 

Again  our  precious  books  were  to  be  buried  from 
our  sight,  to  be  restored  to  light  we  knew  not  when 
nor  where.  Without  a  word  of  complaint,  Dr.  Fol- 
len  again  performed  this  painful  task.  There  was 
the  same  serene  cheerfulness,  the  same  benignant 
expression,  the  same  meek  submission,  the  same  un- 
ruffled peace  in  his  countenance  and  manner,  when 
he  nailed  up  his  books  and  papers,  to  be  consigned  to 
a  place  of  safety,  till  he  again  had  a  roof  to  shelter 
him,  as  there  had  been  when,  full  of  hope  and  confi- 
dence, he  arranged  them  on  his  shelves  a  year  before, 
trusting  that  they  would  long  remain  there.  The 
spirit  of  fear  and  of  complaint  could  not  stand  before 
his  self-forgetting  Christian  faith  and  hope. 

I  think  no  one  who  heard  him,  will  ever  forget  the 
last  sermon  he  preached  to  his  people.  It  was  ex- 


LIFE    OF   CHARLES   POLLEN.  4S3 

tempore.  Indeed,  he  had  no  time  to  write,  for  the 
poor,  whom  he  had  visited,  when  they  heard  he  was 
going,  all  came  to  see  if  it  could  be,  that  he  was 
going  to  leave  the  city.  "  Why,  he  is  the  best  man 
that  ever  lived  ;  it  cannot  be  that  the  people  will  let 
him  go  ;"  said  one  poor  woman  to  me.  It  was  with 
difficulty  he  could  find  time  even  to  pack  his  furniture. 
It  was  accident  that  gave  him  the  subject  of  his  last 
sermon.  We  were  talking  together  of  the  real  oppo- 
sition in  the  minds  of  most  people  to  the  teachings 
and  character  of  Jesus.  I  said,  "If  he  were  to 
come  on  earth  now,  and  speak  as  openly  and  boldly 
as  he  did  to  the  Jews,  he  would  be  crucified  anew." 
"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  they  do  not  know  him  ;  and 
that  shall  be  my  text  for  my  farewell  sermon.  I 
cannot  touch  upon  any  subject  of  a  personal  nature, 
or  I  shall  lose  my  self-command.  My  text  shall  be, 
'  Have  I  been  so  long  with  you,  and  have  ye  not 
known  me  ? '  " 

His  purpose  was  to  show,  that  men  were  as  igno- 
rant of  the  true  spirrt  of  Christianity  as  many  of  the 
hearers  and  even  friends  of  Jesus  were  of  his  nature 
and  purposes  ;  and  that  the  spirit  which  persecuted 
and  crucified  Jesus  was  still  alive.  There  were  some 
there,  who  felt  that  the  text  had  a  personal  applica- 
tion, of  which,  however,  he  was  all  unconscious;  they 
felt  that  there  were  some  there  who  did  not  know 
him  who  addressed  them,  any  more  than  Philip  had 
known  his  master.  He  made  no  notes  at  all  for  this 
sermon  ;  he  opened  the  Bible  and  read  his  text,  and 
spoke  on  from  the  fulness  of  his  heart.  He  spoke 


484  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

plainly,  like  one  who  was  addressing  them  the  last 
time  ;  he  spoke  boldly,  as  a  man  having  nothing  to  hope 
or  to  fear.  He  spoke  affectionately,  as  a  brother  would 
speak  to  brethren  whom  his  heart  yearned  to  bless, 
and  whom  he  was  to  leave  for  ever.  After  service 
he  remained  in  the  desk  purposely,  to  avoid  meeting 
any  one,  for  his  heart  was  too  full  to  speak  any  more. 
When  he  came  down  to  meet  me,  thinking  all  others 
were  gone,  a  man  and  his  wife  came  forward,  who 
had  been  waiting  for  him.  The  man  took  his  hand, 
and  said,  "  You  have,  Sir,  during  your  ministry  here, 
changed  an  unhappy  atheist  to  a  happy,  believing 
Christian.  I  am  grieved  to  think  that  I  shall  worship 
no  more  with  you  in  this  church,  but  you  have  given 
me  the  hope  that  I  may  yet  worship  with  you  in  a 
higher,  a  heavenly  temple."  Tears  ran  fast  down  his 
and  his  wife's  cheeks  as  he  uttered  these  words,  and 
pressed  Dr.  Follen's  hand  and  departed.  "  That," 
said  my  husband,  "  is  reward  enough  for  all  my  toils 
and  disappointments." 


CHAPTER    XX. 


He  returns  to  Boston.  —  Takes  Lodgings  in  Milton.  —  Psychology. 
—  Letter  to  Harriet  Martineau.  —  Preaches  at  Canton.  —  Charge 
at  the  Ordination  of  Mr.  Simmons.  —  His  Idea  of  a  Church.  — 
Takes  Lodgings  in  Boston.  —  Takes  Charge  of  Mr.  Cunning- 
ham's Parish.  —  Lectures  on  Pantheism.  —  Letter  to  Harriet 
Martineau.  — Dr.  Follen  determines  to  visit  Switzerland.  — A 
Dream. 

AFTER  a  sorrowful  farewell  to  our  friends,  but 
most  especially  to  those  who  had  made  their  house  a 
true  home  to  us,  early  in  May,  1838,  we  left  New 
York,  and  soon  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  dear 
old  familiar  friends.  There  was  nowhere  any  open- 
ing for  Dr.  Follen  to  preach,  and  he  accordingly  took 
lodgings  at  a  pleasant  place  in  Milton,  eight  miles 
from  Boston,  determining  to  devote  his  whole  time  to 
his  "  Psychology."  The  expense  of  moving  our  furni- 
ture to  New  York,  and  of  moving  while  there,  of 
packing  his  furniture  so  that  it  might  be  carried  any 
distance  with  safety,  and  the  high  price  of  provisions 
and  rent,  had  made  the  expense  of  living  in  New  York 
so  heavy,  that  the  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  paid  Dr.  Follen,  did  not  support  us,  and 
he  had  to  spend  from  his  own  small  property  during 
his  ministry  in  the  Chambers-Street  church.  In  the 
41  * 


486  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

eyes  of  the  world  he  had,  doubtless,  lost  some  of  his 
importance  ;  he  was  poor,  unsought  for,  rejected  of 
men.  But  there  is  another  side  to  this  picture,  and  not 
only  in  the  eyes  of  Him  who  seeth  not  as  man  seeth  ; 
but  among  his  fellow-men  there  were  many  hearts 
that  he  had  comforted  and  strengthened,  many  souls 
that  he  had  quickened  and  elevated,  ready  to  speak 
of  the  success  and  of  the  true  glory  of  his  ministry. 

As  there  was  a  report  current,  that  Dr.  Follen 
continually  introduced  Abolition  into  the  pulpit,  I 
think  it  right  to  state  the  fact,  that  he  never  but  once 
introduced  it  directly  into  a  discourse  ;  simply  be- 
cause he  never  saw  any  good  reason  for  speaking 
oftener  of  it.  In  his  prayers  he  ever  remembered 
his  brethren  in  bondage.  Negro  slavery,  though  by 
far  the  most  cruel  in  its  effects,  he  considered  as  only 
one  phase  of  that  general  disregard  of  human  rights, 
of  which  he  had  seen  and  experienced  so  much  in 
the  world,  and  against  which  he  had  contended  through 
his  whole  life.  It  was  not  merely  the  pity  he  felt  for 
the  poor  colored  man,  that  led  him  to  join  the  Anti- 
slavery  Society,  it  was  respect  for  the  rights  of  man 
as  man  ;  it  was  faith  in  the  great  truth  of  the  essential 
equality  of  immortal  spirits  ;  it  was  the  recognition  of 
the  divine  brotherhood  of  the  whole  family  of  man  ;  it 
was  simply  the  religion  of  Jesus,  as  he  understood  it, 
that  had  guided  and  influenced  him.  All  his  sermons 
and  all  his  prayers,  all  the  various  acts  of  his  life,  were 
but  various  modifications  and  displays  of  this  faith,  or 
earnest  exhortations  to  the  duties  growing  out  of  it. 
He  could  not  be  a  partisan,  for  he  was  always  on  the 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         487 

side  of  justice  ;  he  was  a  republican,  and  therefore  he 
felt  a  deep  indignation  at  the  suicidal  wickedness  and 
absurdity  of  republican  tyranny. 

The  peaceful  retirement  which  Dr.  Follen  enjoyed 
at  Milton  was  balm  to  his  wearied  and  exhausted 
spirits.  The  surrounding  country  was  beautiful,  and 
our  accommodations  were  excellent.  Our  hostess  was 
the  widow  of  an  excellent  orthodox  clergyman,  who, 
with  her  family,  ministered  to  us  with  that  watchful 
kindness,  which  is  the  recognition  of  the  great  bond 
of  fellowship,  that  should  bind  together  all  those 
who  are  the  disciples  of  the  same  master.  She  often 
called  upon  Dr.  Follen  to  lead  her  family  devotions  ; 
and  it  must  be  a  source  of  melancholy  joy  to  her  to 
remember  the  truly  Christian  communion  in  which 
we  dwelt  together  at  her  house. 

It  was  a  great  joy  to  Dr.  Follen,  to  be  able  to  give 
his  undivided  attention  to  his  "Psychology."  From 
his  earliest  youth  it  had  been  the  subject  of  his  deep- 
est thought  and  faithful  study,  and  he  hoped  that  he 
had  come  to  some  results  that  might  be  useful  to  other 
minds.  He  would  often  say,  "  I  trust  that  I  shall 
live  to  finish  my  '  Psychology  '  ;  I  should  like  to  do 
something  for  the  science  of  the  soul."  One  day, 
during  this  summer,  we  had  a  terrible  thunder-storm  ; 
when  it  was  over,  he  said,  "  You  may  think  it  strange, 
but  I  never  hear  a  severe  clap  of  thunder  without 
remembering  with  pain  that  my  '  Psychology  '  is  not 
written,  and  of  the  possibility  of  my  not  living  to 
finish  it."  Upon  his  last  birthday  he  said,  with  a 
sigh,  "  Another  birthday,  and  my  Elements  of  Psy- 


488  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

chology  not  finished."  He  soon  completed  and  copied 
his  Introduction  to  it  ;  upon  which  he  bestowed  great 
pains.  "  There,"  he  said,  "  that  is  ready  for  the 
press  ;  I  shall  not  alter  a  word  of  it."  Then  he 
added,  "  Now  I  shall  go  on  with  the  work  in  good  earn- 
est." This  Introduction,  which  is  all  that  Dr.  Follen 
completed  of  his  work  on  the  science  of  the  soul,  may 
be  found  in  the  volume  of  his  works,  which  contains 
his  Lectures  on  Moral  Philosophy.  The  very  large 
collection  he  made  of  materials  for  the  "  Psychology," 
are  in  such  a  state,  that  none  but  the  mind  which  pre- 
pared them  could  properly  arrange  them.  He  thought 
that  it  would  not  take  him  a  long  time  to  finish  the  work. 
Dr.  Follen's  present  occupation  was  indeed  his 
true  element.  Life  seemed  beautiful  to  him  when 
he  had  this  work  in  hand.  Early  in  the  morning  you 
would  hear  him  singing  the  songs  of  his  native  land, 
while  he  was  preparing  to  write.  After  breakfast,  he 
would  call  Charles  and  me  to  take  a  stroll  in  a  pretty 
lane  close  by  us,  and  we  would  bring  home  flowers 
for  his  study  and  my  work-table.  Then  he  would 
return  to  his  happy  task,  and  from  ten  o'clock  till  late 
in  the  afternoon  he  devoted  himself  to  intense  intel- 
lectual labor,  occasionally  walking  for  a  few  minutes 
in  the  open  air,  or  sporting  a  while  with  his  boy, 
when  his  head  was  wearied  with  thought.  After  this 
time  he  gave  himself  up  to  his  family  ;  but  he  often 
would  say,  while  walking  with  us,  "I  am  still  at  work 
on  my  science  of  the  soul."  He  loved  to  lie  down 
on  the  beds  of  sweet  fern,  and,  looking  far  up  into  the 
blue  sky,  talk  of  distant  friends,  of  Switzerland,  and 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  489 

often  of  our  eternal  home  beyond  these  visible  hea- 
vens. How  often  he  would  exclaim,  "  This  is  indeed 
more  beautiful  than  walking  in  New  York  streets." 

A  few  lines  that  he  wrote  to  Harriet  Martineau, 
will  show  that  he  did  not  forget  the  Anti-slavery  cause. 
I  had  said,  in  a  letter  to  her,  that  I  should  leave  the 
little  remainder  of  my  page  to  my  husband,  if  he 
could  descend  from  his  high  horse,  which  he  knew  not 
whether  to  call  reason  or  understanding. 

"Milton,  July  31sf,  1838. 
"  DEAREST  HARRIET, 

"  For  these  two  words  I  have,  at  any  rate,  both 
space  and  time.  Eliza  did  not  tell  you,  that  she  is 
determined  to  send  off  this  letter  with,  or  without, 

my  adding  any  thing,  as  soon  as  young  M ,  who 

has  offered  to  forward  it  to  New  York,  returns  on 
horseback  to  call  for  it.  So  much  for  my  descent 
from  my  high  horse  !  I  have  to  write  with  the  antici- 
pated sounds  of  the  horse's  hoofs  in  my  ears.  '  Facts 
and  plans  ! '  We  Abolitionists  have  changed  our 
political  course.  We  are  satisfied,  that  Abolition  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  prohibition  of  the  inter- 
nal trade,  are  more  important  than  all  other  political 
controversies  of  the  day.  So  each  is  ready  to  wave 
his  democratic  or  whig  propensities  in  favor  of  the 
candidate  who  will  vote  for  these  two  measures.  This 
course,  considering  the  nearly  equal  strength  of  the 
two  parties,  will  give  us  a  practical  influence  for  free- 
dom, which  no  attempt  at  forming  a  new  party  of  our 
own  would  procure  us. 


490  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  Think  of  the  disgrace  of  the  democratic  members 
in  the  last  Congress,  before  the  adjournment,  agreeing 
upon  a  declaration  of  sentiments,  in  which  anti-slavery 
is  denounced  for  the  purpose  of  conciliating  the 
South. 

"  Here  is  young  M for  the  letter.     God  bless 

you,  dearest  Harriet. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 

Dr.  Follen  had  received,  in  June,  an  urgent  re- 
quest from  some  young  men  in  Harvard  University, 
to  deliver  an  address  to  them  on  slavery,  on  the  4th  of 
July  ;  which  he  declined,  thinking  it  would  not  be 
delicate  or  right  in  him,  as  he  had  once  been  an 
officer  in  the  College,  and  knew  the  opposition  of  the 
influential  men  in  it  to  the  Anti-slavery  cause,  to  take 
an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  an  Anti-slavery 
Society  there.  But  his  heart  rejoiced  at  its  establish- 
ment, and  most  sincerely  bade  them  "  God  speed." 

The  thought  of  his  narrow  means,  and  the  absence 
of  any  definite  hope  for  the  future,  sometimes  dis- 
turbed these  otherwise  peaceful,  blessed  hours  ;  and 
this  retarded  somewhat  the  progress  of  his  work.  He 
had  also  promised  to  the  editor  of  "  The  Democratic 
Review  "  an  article  on  the  peace  question,  which 
took  up  much  of  his  time.  He  entered  very  fully 
into  the  subject.  Only  a  part  of  what  he  wrote  was 
inserted,  and  that  with  some  alterations,  which  he  did 
not  assent  to. 

Another  subject  took  up  a  portion  of  his  time.     In 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         491 

consequence  of  some  remarks  in  "  The  Christian  Ex- 
aminer," upon  the  Abolitionists,  he  felt  bound  to  say 
something  in  their  vindication.  He  therefore  re- 
quested the  editors  to  allow  him  space  for  some  re- 
marks which  he  wished  to  make.  I  give  his  letter. 

TO     THE    EDITORS     OF    THE     CHRISTIAN    EXAMINER. 

"Milton,  August  7tk,  1838. 
"  GENTLEMEN, 

"  The  last  number  of  the  '  Christian  Examiner' 
(July,  1838),  contains  two  articles,  the  '  Review  of 
Dr.  Wayland's  Limitations  of  Responsibility,'  and 
that  of  '  Miss  Martineau's  Retrospect  of  Western 
Travel,'  in  which  several  grave  charges  and  censures 
are  brought  forward  against  the  Abolitionists  in  this 
country.  The  substance  of  these  condemnatory  re- 
marks is  repeated  in  the  index  of  the  same  number. 
In  these  two  articles,  the  *  end  '  of  the  Abolitionists 
is  pronounced  '  unlawful,'  and  one  for  which  '  they 
have  no  right  to  organize  societies.'  They  are  ac- 
cused of  being  '  wrong  and  unwise  in  their  measures,' 
of  having  '  discussed  the  subject  of  slavery  in  a  man- 
ner decidedly  at  variance  with  constitutional  liberty  of 
speech  and  the  press.'  '  The  soundness  of  their 
moral  discernment'  is  '  questioned  '  ;  appeals  to  their 
reason  are  set  down  as  useless,  because  '  it  is, of  the 
very  stuff  of  fanaticism  to  look  only  at  the  principle 
of  actions,  and  give  the  consequences  to  the  winds.' 
One  of  the  principal  statements  on  which  Abolition- 
ists rely,  to  secure  them  both  against  legal  enact- 
ments and  the  violence  of  mobs,  is  declared  to  be 


492  LIFE   OF    CHARLES   FOLLEN. 

'  not  a  fair  and  honest  statement.'  It  is  obvious,  that 
so  long  as  there  appears  no  representation  of  the  other 
side  of  this  great  question,  which  now  agitates  and  di- 
vides public  opinion,  '  The  Christian  Examiner'  must 
be  considered  as  having  taken  part  against  the  Abo- 
litionists. As  I  am  not  aware  that  this  periodical  is 
actually  pledged  upon  this  question,  and  as  I  consci- 
entiously believe  that  the  forementioned  charges  and 
censures  are  unfounded  and  unjust,  I  think  it  my  duty, 
as  far  as  I  can,  to  counteract  the  false  impressions 
which  those  two  articles  are  fitted  to  produce. 

"  As  my  name  still  appears  in  the  printed  list  of 
the  principal  contributors  to  the  '  Examiner,'  although 
professional  labors  have  for  some  time  prevented  ray 
offering  any  thing  for  publication,  it  seems  to  me  the 
part  of  propriety  as  well  as  duty  to  myself,  and  what 
I  hold  to  be  the  cause  of  truth,  to  propose  to  the 
Editors,  an  article  in  vindication  of  the  Abolitionists 
from  the  charges  and  censures  cont-ained  in  the  last 
number  of  the  '  Christian  Examiner.'  Will  you  be 
so  kind  as  to  inform  me,  whether  you  will  receive 
from  me  such  an  article,  on  condition  that  it  shall  be 
in  character  and  spirit  such  as  to  approve  itself  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Editors  of  the  '  Christian  Examiner.' 
In  case  you  see  fit  to  accept  this  proposal,  will  you 
have  the  kindness  to  let  me  know  how  much  time 
you  can  allow  me  for  finishing  the  article,  with  a  view 
to  its  being  inserted  in  the  next  number. 

"  An  early  answer  will  greatly  oblige 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"CHARLES  FOLLEN." 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         493 

Dr.  Follen  received  a  very  courteous  permission 
to  send  such  an  article  as  he  proposed,  to  the  "  Ex- 
aminer," on  condition  that  it  should  not  be  a  "  pointed 
answer  to  any  thing  they  had  published  against  Abo- 
litionism," as  it  was  one  of  their  rules  not  to  admit 
such  articles,  because  they  led  to  long  and  disagreea- 
ble controversies.  The  vindication  of  the  Aboli- 
tionists, and  the  article  on  the  Peace  Question,  may 
be  found  in  the  present  collection  of  his  works. 

One  day  this  summer,  when  he  was  in  Boston,  some 
one  offered  him  the  petition,  addressed  to  the  Governor, 
for  the  pardon  of  Mr.  Abner  Kneeland,  who  had  been 
found  guilty  of  the  crime  of  blasphemy.  He  gladly 
put  his  name  to  it,  not  because  he  saw  the  names  of 
those  he  most  honored  attached  to  it,  but  because  he 
entirely  disapproved  of  all  laws  upon  such  subjects, 
and  thought  satisfactory  reasons  were  given  in  the  pe- 
tition, why  Mr.  Kneeland  should  be  saved  from  their 
penalties.  When  he  heard  others  condemned  for 
putting  their  names  to  it,  he  used  to  say,  very  quietly, 
"  I  am  glad  I  put  mine  there." 

Dr.  Follen  was  called  upon,  during  the  latter  part 
of  his  residence  in  Milton,  to  perform  a  service  for  a 
friend,  which,  both  in  itself,  and  in  the  manner  in 
which  he  performed  it,  illustrates  his  character. 

He  was  in  the  city,  and  was  met  in  the  street  by 
Mr.  George  F.  Simmons,  who  told  him  he  had  been 
anxiously  seeking  him,  to  ask  a  favor  of  him.  He 
was  very  desirous  to  get  him  to  deliver  the  charge  at 
his  ordination,  which  was  to  take  place  the  next  day. 
Dr.  Follen  said  he  could  not ;  that  he  could  not  re- 

VOL.  i.  42 


494         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

turn  to  Milton  till  night,  when  he  should  be  too  much 
fatigued  to  make  any  preparation  ;  that  there  would 
be  no  time  the  next  day  ;  that  he  had  never  done  any 
thing  of  the  sort,  and  could  not  undertake  such  an 
office  for  the  first  time,  so  entirely  unprepared.  Mr. 
Simmons  urged  him  warmly,  and  said  that  there  was 
no  one  whom  he  so  much  desired  to  take  this  part  in 
his  ordination,  and  that  he  should  not  know  what  to 
do  if  he  refused.  Dr.  Follen  at  last  consented,  be- 
cause he  could  never  refuse  to  do  a  kind  thing.  As 
he  knew  would  be  the  case,  he  found  no  time  to  make 
any  adequate  preparation.  On  a  scrap  of  rumpled 
paper,  after  he  arrived  next  morning  in  the  city,  he 
made  a  few  notes.  I  give  them  just  as  I  have  found 
them. 

"  1st.  Place  before  yourself  clearly  the  object  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  and  the  means  by  which, it  is 
to  be  accomplished. 

"2d.  Act  according  to  this  conception  of  your 
duty. 

"Object.  To  aid  your  fellow-men  in  the  formation 
of  their  religious  character,  — not  to  form  it ;  not  to 
lessen  their  exertions  and  responsibility,  but  increase 
them  by  your  aid. 

" .Means,  1st.  Study.  Theological  education  never 
finishes.  Theology  a  science  in  which  no  one  grad- 
uates in  this  world.  Every  thing  may  be  made  a 
teacher,  (a)  Nature,  more  especially  human  nature, — 
a  temple  ;  try  to  decipher  its  inscriptions  by  the 
key  of  Scripture. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  495 

"  (6)   Scripture.     Jesus. 

"2d.  Public  services,  (a)  Prayer.  Natural  effu- 
sion not  merely  appropriate.  Not  a  string  of  quota- 
tions of  Scripture  phrases.  Pray  yourself.  A  good 
prayer  is  that  which  makes  others  pray.  (6)  Preach- 
ing. Speak  the  truth  as  it  is  in  your  heart.  Confes- 
sion of  doubt ;  independence  of  thought  and  expres- 
sion, (c)  Be  guided  by  the  consideration  of  what  is 
most  important  to  your  hearers,  for  the  formation  of 
their  religious  character, — not  by  their  likes  or  dis- 
likes. Prejudices.  Ministerial  prudence.  It  may 
cost  you  your  standing,  your  office,  (d)  Adapt  your 
expressions  to  the  capacities  and  wants  of  all  ;  young 
and  old,  sick  and  well,  righteous  and  sinners,  believers 
and  skeptics,  (e)  Ordinances.  Private  intercourse. 
As  man  among  his  fellow-men.  All  are  men  ;  have 
the  rights  and  feelings  of  men.  Try  to  gain  their 
confidence,  by  confiding  in  them.  Take,  as  a 
new  charge  for  yourself,  humility,  truth,  courage  ! 
Put  your  heart  into  your  services  ;  you  must  feel, 
you  must  believe,  yourself.  Be  a  learner  your- 
self ;  not  attained  to  all  truth.  Not  rash,  but  a  calm, 
deliberate  preference  of  truth  and  right,  to  the  opin- 
ion of  the  world  and  your  own  advantage. 

"  Not  a  tame  and  time-serving  ministry.  Not  be 
terrified  by  the  authority  of  any  man.  Stir  up  the 
gift  of  God  which  is  in  thee.  Meditate  upon  these 
things  ;  give  thyself  wholly  to  them." 

Some  of  his  hearers  were  enthusiastic  in  their 
praise  of  his  performance.  It  was  the  first  and  only 


496  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

Charge  he  ever  delivered.  Had  he  continued  in  this 
sphere  of  his  labors,  I  doubt  not  that  his  heart  would 
have  rejoiced  in  the  conviction,  that  the  words  he 
then  spoke  did  not  fall  on  stony  ground.* 

During  the  first  part  of  this  summer,  he  had  cher- 
ished some  hope,  that  a  plan  formed  in  New  York  by 
a  few  friends,  might  be  carried  into  effect.  This  was 
the  establishment  of  a  free  church  there.  The  same 
man  who  had  expressed  his  desire  to  pay  from  his 
own  purse  for  a  course  of  lectures  from  Dr.  Follen 
to  his  skeptical  brethren,  and  who  had  afterwards 
come  to  his  church,  had  declared  his  readiness  to 
contribute  largely  to  a  free  Christian  church,  if  he 
were  the  minister.  There  were  others  who  expressed 
a  deep  interest  in  it,  and  there  was  a  time  when  there 
seemed  a  great  probability  that  such  a  project  would 
be  carried  into  effect.  To  be  the  pastor  of  a 
free  church  in  the  city  of  New  York  would  have 
been  to  Dr.  Follen  one  of  the  most  desirable  offices 
in  the  world,  because  he  could  there  have  carried  out 
some  of  his  dearest  principles  and  plans.  He  wished 
to  see  a  church  established  upon  what  he  considered 
the  true  Christian  principle,  where  the  preacher  did 
not  address  men  as  the  proprietors  of  pews,  but  as 
the  possessors  of  immortal  souls  ;  he  wished  to  min- 
ister to  a  church,  the  doors  of  which  should  be  open 
to  all  whose  creed  was  universal  love  and  toleration. 


*  Mr.  Simmons  acted  upon  the  principles  enforced  in  this  charge, 
as  the  subject  of  slavery,  when  he  was  in  Mobile  ;  and  on  this 
account  was  obliged  to  quit  his  situation  there. 


LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  497 

The  principles  upon  which  this  church  should  be 
established,  he  had  partly  unfolded  in,  his  Tract  on 
"  Religion  and  the  Church."  In  relation  to  the  de- 
tails, the  actual  execution  of  his  plan,  he  often  spoke 
to  me,  but  never  put  his  ideas  on  paper.  His  great 
object  was  to  produce  a  more  truly  social  worship  ; 
he  wished  that  the  congregation  should  take  an  active 
part  in  the  services,  particularly  in  the  devotional 
parts.  He  thought  well  of  religious  conferences  ;  he 
wished  to  see  a  closer  union  between  members  of 
the  same  church,  to  bring  the  minister  more  among 
the  people.  He  wished  to  do  away  with  the  high 
pulpit,  to  have  the  building  so  constructed,  as  that 
whoever  desired  to  speak,  could  easily  find  a  place  to 
stand,  where  he  could  be  heard  by  the  whole  audience. 
He  wished  to  imitate  the  Society  of  Friends  in  put- 
ting women  upon  an  equality  with  men,  and  that  each 
one  should  be  encouraged  to  speak  according  to  his 
or  her  gift,  without  any  distinction.  He  wished  the 
music  to  be  a  truly  devotional  act,  performed  by  the 
whole  society,  excepting  only  those  individuals  who 
had  no  musical  powers.  Painting,  and  sculpture,  and 
architecture,  he  thought  ought  to  be  employed  as 
helps  and  expressions  of  devotional  feeling.  He 
thought  a  learned  minister,  one  devoted  altogether  to 
the  study  of  theology,  important,  because  all  had  not 
the  time  and  opportunity  to  examine  difficult  ques- 
tions for  themselves,  and  a  leader  was  necessary  ; 
but  he  should  be  ever  ready  to  yield  to  any  one 
who  could  instruct  the  people  better  than  he  ;  he 
should  meet  all  those  who  made  objections,  or  wished 
42* 


498  LIFE    OP   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

to  ask  questions,  with  respect  and  courtesy,  and  treat 
all  arguments  fairly,  remembering  that  he  also  was  a 
learner. 

He  thought  it  would  be  better  that  all  the  expenses 
of  the  society  should  be  paid  by  voluntary  subscrip- 
tion ;  that  every  one  should  be  free  to  remain  with 
the  society  just  as  long  as  he  pleased  ;  that  there 
should  be  no  bond,  but  that  of  a  unity  of  spirit  and 
Christian  love  ;  that  every  one  should  be  welcome 
to  their  church,  who  heartily  desired  to  join  them  ; 
that  the  conscientious  skeptic,  who  came  to  in- 
quire of  their  doctrine,  and  to  slate  his  difficulties, 
should  be  treated  by  them  as  a  brother,  and  that 
instead  of  turning  away  from  him,  they  should 
reason  with  him  of  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
the  judgment  to  come.  Such  a  church,  free  and 
unlimited  as  the  love  of  Jesus,  his  soul  longed  to  es- 
tablish ;  it  was  a  purpose  he  never  relinquished. 
His  desire  for  it  amounted  almost  to  a  passion  ;  he 
would  gladly  have  lived  upon  the  smallest  possible 
means,  for  the  sake  of  ministering  to  it.  Before  the 
autumn  came,  he  was  convinced  that  nothing  of  the 
kind  would  be  attempted  in  New  York,  and  he  turned 
his  attention  to  other  plans  for  the  future.  One  was 
the  establishment  of  such  a  church  in  Boston.  Some 
few  friends  thought  well  of  it,  and  desired  it,  but 
here,  as  in  all  his  other  purposesvhe  felt  his  poverty  ; 
his  daily  bread  was  to  be  earned.  He  had,  it  is  true, 
opportunities  of  preaching  ;  yet  he  could  only  earn 
enough  barely  to  support  himself  and  family.  This 
distressed  him.  He  would  often  say,  "Now  in  the 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  499 

prime  of  my  life,  and  with  the  power  and  will  to 
labor,  I  ought  to  earn  something  more  than  my  daily 
bread."  But  his  nature  was  so  hopeful,  his  mode  of 
life  was  so  agreeable,  his  interest  in  his  "  Psychology" 
was  so  intense,  his  occasional  preaching  was  so  great  a 
pleasure  to  him,  and  then  the  frequent  intercourse 
with  dear  old  friends  ;  —  all  these  things  made  the  sum- 
mer a  long  holiday  to  us.  Late  in  the  autumn  we 
removed  to  Boston,  where  we  took  lodgings.  Dr. 
Follen  had  taken  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cun- 
ningham's pulpit  for  the  winter,  as  he  was  to  be  away 
from  the  country  during  that  time.  Dr.  Follen's  pur- 
pose was  to  obtain,  in  Boston,  pupils  in  German. 
Some  of  his  friends  had  told  him  that  this  would  be 
very  easy,  that  he  would  have  as  many  pupils  as  he 
wished  ;  and  he  was  in  hopes  by  this  means  to  earn  a 
subsistence  for  his  family.  Herein  he  was  disap- 
pointed. Only  one  small  class  offered,  and  two  or 
three  separate  pupils  besides,  so  that  his  time  would 
have  been  more  profitably  employed  in  writing. 

He  mentioned  his  plan  of  a  new  free  church  in 
Boston  to  many  of  his  friends  there  ;  he  unfolded 
his  whole  purpose  and  wish  to  them,  and  he  did  most 
earnestly  hope,  that  he  might  meet  with  sufficient  en- 
couragement to  commence  the  undertaking.  But  the 
time  was  not  a  propitious  one  ;  some  friends  sympa- 
thized warmly  with  his  views,  but  did  not  see  how  to 
help  him  ;  others  thought  it  desirable  there  should  be 
such  a  church  ;  some  stood  ready  to  help  when  it  was 
actually  established  ;  others  feared  it  would  not  suc- 
ceed. His  poverty  made  him  powerless,  and  the 


500  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

time  passed  without  a  single  effort  being  made  for  this 
great,  and,  as  he  thought  it,  most  desirable  object. 

Of  his  numerous  disappointments,  Dr.  Follen  per- 
haps felt  none  more  keenly  than  this.  There  were 
moments  this  winter  when  his  heart  was  truly  oppress- 
ed ;  but  the  same  faith  and  courage  that  had  hitherto 
supported  him,  came  now  to  his  aid.  He  turned  di- 
rectly to  some  present  duty,  or  he  talked  with  his 
friends  of  the  future,  which  he  still  trusted  had  some 
unlooked-for  good  in  store  for  him.  His  near  friends 
were  in  the  habit  of  rallying  him  upon  his  sanguine 
anticipations,  and  this,  even  after  their  failure  might 
have  produced  some  sensitiveness  upon  the  subject ; 
but  how  sweetly  did  he  join  in  the  laugh  at  his  own 
confiding  credulity,  that  led  him  to  measure  the  good 
he  expected  from  others,  not  by  the  history  of  his 
own  experience,  but  by  the  overflowing  bounty  of  his 
own  heart.  One  instance  of  this  I  cannot  resist  re- 
lating. One  New  Year's  day  I  observed  him  in  the 
morning,  putting  away  some  books  that  he  usually 
kept  on  his  study  table,  and  apparently  making  room 
for  something.  I  asked  him  what  he  was  preparing 
for.  "  I  am  making  room  on  my  table  for  our  New 
Year's  presents,"  he  replied.  I  smiled.  "  I  see," 
he  said,  "  that  you  do  not  expect  any,  but  I  do."  I 
was  right  ;  we  had  not  a  single  New  Year's  gift ; 
but  his  unfeigned  merriment  at  his  ungrounded  hopes, 
and  the  many  hearty  laughs,  which  the  remembrance 
of  his  mistake,  when  like  disappointments  in  more 
important  affairs  befel  us,  proved  that  he  possessed 
that,  which  made  such  things  of  little  importance. 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN,  501 

No  one  thought  less  of  the  intrinsic  value,  or  rather 
of  the  market  price,  of  a  gift  from  a  friend,  than  he ; 
and  no  one  that  I  ever  knew  thought  more  of  the  ac- 
tive love  that  prompted  such  testimonials  of  affection  ; 
he  was  truly  child-like  in  these  things. 

We  practised,  necessarily,  this  winter,  the  strictest 
economy.  Through  mud,  and  cold,  and  storms, 
Dr.  Follen  walked  out  seven  miles  to  the  church 
where  he  was  engaged  to  preach.  Far  from  uttering 
a  complaint  at  the  cold,  or  fatigue,  or  inconvenience, 
which  he  occasionally  had  to  endure,  he  always  re- 
turned home  with  a  smile  upon  his  face,  that  seemed 
to  say,  "  I  have  been  about  my  Father's  business." 
Never  did  he  once  say,  I  wish  I  had  a  chaise  ;  and 
when  I  urged  him  in  bad  weather  to  take  one,  he 
always  answered,  "  I  like  walking  better  ;  having  no 
horse  to  take  care  of,  I  have  my  mind  free,  and  I 
often  compose  my  sermons  by  the  way."  As  he  was 
disappointed  in  his  hope  of  obtaining  pupils  in  Ger- 
man, he  felt  the  necessity  of  doing  something  else  for 
the  support  of  his  family,  and  he  determined  to  give 
a  course  of  lectures.  He  chose  the  History  of  Pan- 
theism for  his  subject.  He  had  devoted  much  time 
and  effort  to  the  faithful  study  of  Spinoza  and  the 
other  pantheistic  writers,  and  he  thought  he  might  do 
some  good,  by  showing  what  this  doctrine  really  was. 
He  had  noticed  with  deep  interest  the  controversy 
that  existed  between  the  old  and  the  new  school  of 
theology  ;  he  did  not  take  part  entirely  with  either 
side,  not  because  he  believed,  with  some  people,  that 
the  middle  path  was,  of  course,  the  right,  or  the 


502         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

safest,  but  simply  because  he  did  not  entirely  agree 
with  either.  His  sympathies  were  altogether  with 
the  new  school  ;  but  he  thought  that  some  of  their 
writings  were  decidedly  pantheistic  in  their  tendency, 
and  his  stern,  uncompromising  belief  m  a  strict  indi- 
vidual responsibility,  growing  out  of  the  perfect  free- 
dom of  the  human  will,  made  him  shrink  from  any 
approach  to  a  faith,  which,  in  his  view,  annihilated 
both.  He  was,  however,  deeply  pained  when  he 
heard  those  men,  who  advanced  these  opinions, 
called  in6dels.  He  well  knew,  also,  that  some,  who 
were  so  accused,  disclaimed  Pantheistic  views  ;  but 
this  made  it  seem  only  the  more  important,  that 
people  should  know  what  Pantheism  really  was.  He 
believed  that  a  free,  and  temperate,  and  fair  discussion 
of  all  these  subjects  would  aid  the  cause  of  true  re- 
ligion, and  he  gave  himself  to  this  work  with  a  true 
and  hearty  zeal. 

His  purpose,  at  first,  was  to  write  his  lectures  ; 
but,  before  he  had  finished  the  first  page  of  the  first 
lecture,  he  gave  up  the  thought,  and  determined  to 
make  copious  notes,  and  then  trust  to  the  excitement 
of  the  subject  and  the  occasion  for  his  modes  of  ex- 
pression. Among  his  notes  I  find  the  two  sentences 
which  he  wrote,  and  then  discarded  after  his  change 
of  plan.  I  quote  them,  as  they  give  his  view  of  the 
importance  of  the  subject. 

"  Of  all  the  dark  subjects,  which  the  mind  of  man 
has  labored  to  bring  to  light,  there  is  no  one  that 
demands  so  strong  an  effort  of  its  united  powers,  as 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  503 

that  which  I  wish  to  bring  before  you  in  this  course. 
The  subject  of  investigation  is,  the  relation  between 
God  and  the  world  ;  whether  there  be  a  God  of  na- 
ture, or  nature  itself  be  God.  These  are  questions 
which  call  indeed  for  the  utmost  exertion  of  the  spirit 
that  is  endowed  with  the  singular  power,  and  impelled 
by  the  unquenchable  desire,  to  search  all  things,  even 
the  deep  things  of  God." 

The  mass  of  notes  and  authorities  he  collected  for 
his  course  is  very  great,  but  nothing  is  finished  except 
the  above  passage.  His  audience  was  small,  but 
sufficiently  large  to  afford  him  a  small  compensation 
for  his  labor  ;  and,  as  all  his  friends  were  there,  he  was 
not  disheartened,  but  rather  encouraged,  by  the  result 
of  this  effort ;  and  he,  immediately  after  the  termina- 
tion of  this  course,  commenced  another  on  Infidelity. 
His  audience  was  smaller.  This  course  was  also 
unwritten.  Every  one  seemed  impressed  with  his 
eloquence  and  fervor,  his  clear  representation  of  dark 
and  abstruse  subjects,  his  fair,  his  scrupulously 
just  account  of  the  opinions  of  those  with  whom  he 
entirely  differed,  and  the  sincere  and  solemn  declara- 
tion of  his  own  faith,  with  which  he  concluded. 

It  required  a  philosophical  and  learned  mind  to  do 
full  justice  to  these  two  courses  of  lectures,  particu- 
larly the  course  on  Pantheism.  They  were  the 
result  of  long  and  faithful  study  ;  had  they  been  writ- 
ten, his  literary  reputation  might  well  have  rested 
upon  them  alone.  "They  little  know,  who  hear 
me,"  he  said  to  me,  "  how  much  labor  any  one  of 


504  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

these  lectures  has  cost.  I  have,  in  fact,  been  many 
years  preparing  them."  He  delivered  them  on  Sun- 
day evenings,  after  having  walked  out  to  Dorches- 
ter to  preach.  He  returned  about  two  hours  before 
the  time  for  his  lecture,  which  he  had  prepared  for 
during  the  week.  He  was  so  wearied  with  his  walk 
and  preaching,  that,  in  order  to  be  able  to  speak,  he 
had  to  lie  down  and  sleep  till  tea  was  ready  for  him, 
and  took  only  half  an  hour  to  collect  his  thoughts  and 
prepare  for  his  lecture,  which  was  always  more  than 
an  hour  in  length.  Both  of  his  subjects  were  evi- 
dently unpopular,  and  were,  perhaps,  thought  dry  by 
a  great  portion  of  his  hearers. 

At  the  request  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  H.  Ware,  Jr., 
he  was  induced  to  repeat  his  lectures  on  Pantheism  at 
Cambridge.  As  he  took  it  for  granted,  that  not  only 
the  students  from  the  Divinity  School,  but  some  of 
the  undergraduates  might  attend,  he  lengthened  his 
course  from  six  to  eight  lectures,  in  order  that  he 
might  have  a  better  opportunity  of  explaining  what 
was  dark  in  some  of  the  systems  which  he  should  lay 
before  them.  As  he  knew  many  of  the  students  were 
not  rich,  he  did  not  increase  his  terms.  His  audience 
was  so  small,  that,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  it  would 
have  been  better  for  him  to  have  remained  at  home. 
This  was  a  trial  to  him,  it  revived  some  of  the  pain- 
ful recollections  of  his  disappointments  in  the  College. 
There  were,  indeed,  present  some  few  ever  dear, 
ever  faithful  old  friends,  and  they  cheered  his  heart ; 
"but,"  he  said  to  me,  "when  I  saw,  on  the  first 
evening,  how  few  were  present,  of  the  many  who 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  505 

were  wont  to  give  their  presence  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  almost  any  lecturer,  I  felt  that  I  was  indeed 
a  stranger  in  Cambridge." 

Dr.  Follen  had  frequently  spoken,  during  the  pre- 
ceding summer,  of  visiting  his  family  in  Switzerland. 
He  alludes  to  this  plan  in  a  letter  to  Harriet  Martineau. 

"Boston,  December  1st,  1838. 
"  DEAREST  HARRIET, 

"  This  is  the  close  of  Eliza's,  and  this  is  the  begin- 
ning and  the  key-note  of  my  song.  How  near,  how 
present,  you  are  to  us  in  your  letters  !  They  make 
us  believers  in  a  kind  of  epistolary  transubstantiation, 
by  which  these  visible  emblems  become  your  very 
self  to  us,  who  partake  of  them  in  the  faith  of  friend- 
ship. Eliza  has  told  you  all  about  us.  In  the  letter 
which  did  not  reach  you,  we  expressed  the  fervent 
wish,  that  we  might  meet  you  next  summer  in  Swit- 
zerland. There  I  could  be  your  interpreter,  not 
between  you  and  the  mountains,  for  they  possess  the 
gift  of  tongues,  preaching  the  gospel  of  freedom  to 
each  in  his  own  mother  tongue,  but  between  you  and 
the  men. 

"  My  brother  sent  me  word,  through  Mr.  Gannett, 
that  I  should  be  perfectly  safe  in  Switzerland,  though 
not  in  Germany.  This  does  not  tempt  me,  however, 
to  think  of  any  thing  like  a  permanent  abode  in  that 
beautiful  mountain  home.  I  am  persuaded  my  sphere 
of  action  is  this  world  of  experiment,  though  our 
experiments  are,  as  yet,  somewhat  like  Franklin's  kite, 
before  he  had  succeeded  in  bringing  down  the  light- 

VOL.  i.  43 


506         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

ning  from  heaven.  But  '  Frisch  zu  ! '  is  our  watch- 
word. 

"  I  have  lately  attended  a  meeting  of  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  new  school  of  Unitarians.  A  clear 
determination  to  break  loose  from  the  Unitarian  or- 
thodoxy, and  a  vague  conception  of  something  greater 
and  better,  with  marked  individuality  of  opinion  and 
mutual  respect,  characterized  the  discussion. 

"I  have  derived  much  pleasure  and  instruction 
from  conversing  with  Mr.  Adam,  of  Calcutta,  the 
friend  of  Rammohun  Roy,  for-  some  time  editor  of 
'  The  India  Gazette,'  and  now  intrusted  with  a  com- 
mission relating  to  the  education  of  the  people  in 
India.  He  "is  going  to  England,  to  urge  his  plans 
with  the  government.  He  has  requested  me  to  give 
him  a  letter  to  you.  I  think  his  plan  has  the  right 
foundation.  Instead  of  imposing  upon  the  people  the 
benefit  of  the  English  schools,  he  seeks  the  improve- 
ment and  support  of  the  primary  and  higher  schools 
already  established  by  the  natives.  This  seems  to 
place  education  essentially  on  the  same  ground  on 
which  all  missionary  efforts,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
should  be  placed.  It  is  a  fact,  that  every  Christian 
doctrine  and  precept  may  be  found  in  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Hindoos.  These  should  be  collected, 
and  made  the  foundation  of  a  progressive  faith,  as 
well  as  the  efficient  refutation  of  idolatrous  errors.  1 
communicated  these  views  to  Mr.  Adam,  and  he 
agreed  with  me  entirely,  and  ascribed  the  signal  failure 
of  all  missionary  enterprises  in  India  chiefly  to  the 
presumption,  that  these  millions  of  human  beings  had 
lived  until  now  wholly  destitute  of  all  moral  light. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  507 

"  You  see  I  have  come  fairly  to  the  end  of  my 
allowance.  We  rejoice  that  your  hearing  iss  till  im- 
proving, and  that  you  are  in  the  full  tide  of  successful 
action.  Eliza  bids  me  say,  that  she  likes  your  "Maid 
of  All  Work  "  very  much. 

"Yours,  ever  affectionately, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  there  was  at  this  time  a 
growing  feeling  of  discouragement  in  Dr.  Follen's 
mind.  He  thought  that  his  failure  in  New  York  had 
been  a  serious  injury  to  him  ;  he  felt  the  oppression 
of  public  opinion,  which  condemned  his  unpopular 
views.  The  principles  for  which  he  was  thus  called 
upon  to  suffer,  were  all  the  more  dear  to  him.  That 
allegiance  to  liberty  and  humanity  should  be  thus 
indirectly,  but  practically,  persecuted  in  a  republic 
acknowledging  these  great  principles  as  the  foundation 
of  its  existence,  was  mournful  to  him  ;  but  he  looked 
at  this  inconsistency  as  he  did  at  the  faults  of  his 
friends,  as  a  departure  from  their  true  nature.  Though 
he  was  grieved,  and  though  he  himself  was  a  sufferer, 
yet  his  faith  and  love  were  always  greater  than  their 
sins. 

He  had  long  been  thinking  of  a  visit  to  his  own 
country,  and  this  seemed  to  him  to  be  a  favorable 
moment.  He  hoped,  that,  when  he  returned,  his 
prospects  for  the  future  might  become  brighter,  and, 
if  nothing  more  satisfactory  should  offer,  he  could 
open  a  school.  His  only  objection  to  a  school  was, 
the  fear  that  it  would  leave  him  no  time  to  write  ;  but, 


508  LIKE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

•     * 

as  soon  as  he  should  have  viewed  it  as  a  duty,  he 
would  have  turned  his  thoughts  solely  to  the  advan- 
tages that  belonged  to  such  an  employment. 

Having  once  seriously  thought  of  a  visit  to  his 
father-land,  all  the  latent  homesickness,  that  present 
duties  and  necessity  had  led  him  to  stifle,  revived. 
He  often  occupied  himself  in  laying  out  the  plan  of 
our  journey  through  France  to  his  brother's  residence 
in  Zurich,  and  in  arranging  the  way  we  should  pass 
our  time  in  Switzerland.  It  was  not  idly.  He  and 
I  were  to  teach  English,  and  he  intended  to  deliver 
lectures  in  Berne  and  Zurich,  and  he  hoped  in  this 
way  to  be  able  to  earn  a  subsistence  for  us,  and  pay 
our  travelling  expenses.  He  anticipated  great  aid 
from  his  brother  Augustus  in  writing  his  Psychology, 
which  he  hoped  to  finish  while  he  was  with  him. 
He  had  determined  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
politics  of  the  country.  His  joy  at  the  thought  of 
seeing  his  family  again  was  so  great,  that  he  became 
almost  reconciled  to  the  unpleasant  circumstances  of 
his  situation,  which  left  him  free  to  go  where  he 
would,  and  without  any  desirable  field  of  exertion 
open  before  him.  We  made  many  arrangements  for 
our  departure  in  May,  and  began  to  long  for  the  time 
to  arrive.  But  neither  his  disappointment  with  the 
present,  nor  his  hopes  and  longings  for  the  future,  so 
disturbed  Dr.  Follen's  mind,  as  to  make  any  sensible 
alteration  in  his  habitually  serene  and  cheerful  manner. 
Peace,  heavenly  peace,  ever  attended  him.  He 
entered  into  the  pleasures  and  interests  of  all  who 
were  around  him.  I  will  give  one  instance  of  this 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  509 

ready  sympathy,  and  of  that  childlike  surrender 
of  himself  to  those  he  loved.  Some  friends  were 
arranging  tableaux  vivans.  They  asked  me  for  a 
subject  ;  I  proposed  the  family  of  the  Vicar  of 
Wakefield,  when  Moses  returned  from  the  fair  with 
the  spectacles.  "  Who,"  said  my  husband,  "  can 
you  get  for  the  Vicar  ?  "  "No  one,"  I  replied,  spor- 
tively, "  could  do  it  so  well  as  you  ;  you  must  take  that 
part."  "  I  thought  so,"  he  said  ;  "  I  am  very  busy, 
studying  for  my  lecture  ;  but  if  you  will  prepare  every 
thing,  so  that  1  shall  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  appear, 
I  am  at  your  service."  He  went  with  us  to  the 
friend's  house,  where  the  exhibition  was  to  take 
place,  although  he  could  ill  spare  the  time  ;  he  so 
loved  to  encourage  innocent  sport,  that  he  put  aside 
his  books,  and  entered  with  all  his  heart  into  the 
pleasure.  After  he  had  been  enjoying  the  exhibition 
for  some  time,  he  was  told  that  his  turn  to  appear  had 
come.  When  the  old-fashioned  clerical  coat  and  wig 
had  been  put  on  hitn,  he  looked  up  with  the  greatest 
earnestness  and  simplicity,  and  said,  "  Now  tell  me 
exactly  how  I  must  look  ;  for  I  have  had  no  time  to 
think  of  my  part,  or  look  into  the  book."  I  said, 
"  Think  of  the  Vicar's  words,  when  he  said,  '  he 
hoped  all  would  be  for  the  best,'  which  the  event 
would  convert  either  into  a  prophecy,  or  an  expres- 
sion of  benevolent  anxiety ;  and  that  he  is  looking  at 
the  spectacles  Moses  brings,  in  this  state  of  mind." 
"  I  have  it,"  he  replied.  He  looked  his  part  so 
perfectly,  that  the  loud  applause  of  the  company  was 
irrepressible.  The  rest  of  the  group  lost  all  self- 
43* 


510         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

possession  ;  but  he  stood  immovable,  with  the  same 
serene  simplicity,  the  same  shrewd  benevolence  in 
his  face  through  the  whole  time,  till  the  curtain  was 
drawn.  "  How,"  we  all  exclaimed,  "  did  you  main- 
tain your  gravity  amidst  such  shouts  of  laughter  ?  " 
"  I  was  determined  to  act  my  part  perfectly  well," 
he  replied.  When  we  told  him  how  well  he  had 
done,  he  seemed  much  pleased,  and  extremely  amused 
to  find  that  his  own  son  did  not  know  him. 

One  Sunday  evening,  after  his  return  from  preach- 
ing, he  related  to  me  a  sort  of  vision  that  had  passed 
before  him  while  he  was  in  the  pulpit,  waiting  for  the 
hour  of  service,  and,  half  asleep,  with  his  eyes  closed, 
in  a  dreamy  state  of  mind,  was  resting  himself  from 
his  walk.  I  thought  it  so  beautiful,  that  I  asked  him 
to  write  it  down,  which  he  did.  A  short  time  after- 
wards he  had  an  opportunity  of  writing  to  his  elder 
brother,  and  he  gave  an  account  of  it  to  him.  I  find 
among  his  papers  a  copy  of  this  letter,  in  English, 
which  I  feel  assured  will  be  read  with  interest. 

"  Boston,  January  7th,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  BROTHER, 

"  You,  who  are  a  dreamer,  and,  moreover,  a  phi- 
losopher of  dreams,  will  take  an  interest  in  an  occur- 
rence, which,  though  it  impressed  me  powerfully  at 
the  time,  was  soon  forgotten,  and  might  have  passed, 
ere  long,  out  of  the  reach  of  remembrance,  if  it  had 
not  been  revived  by  the  sight  of  the  old  meeting- 
house, on  my  way  to  the  distant  village  where  I  went 
last  Sunday  morning,  to  break  the  bread  of  life  to  a 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  511 

small  number  of  fellow-worshippers.  I  wrote  it  down 
on  my  return,  while  it  was  yet  fresh  in  my  memory, 
lest  it  should  share  the  fate  of  many  similar  events, 
which  make  up  the  fabulous  portion  of  our  inward 
history. 

"  This  sudden  recovery  of  something  that  seemed 
gone  for  ever  from  my  conscious  existence,  reminded 
me  of  some  observations  of  yours  on  the  nature  of 
dreams,  and  the  difficulty  of  keeping  in  existence 
these  frail  children  of  our  wayward  fancy,  even  when 
they  have  survived  the  critical  moment  of  awaking 
from  a  profound  sleep  ;  and  the  still  more  hopeless 
task  of  calling  them  back  from  the  kingdom  of  sha- 
dows, after  they  have  once  crossed  the  stream  of 
oblivion.  Often  have  I  endeavoured  to  conjure  up 
some  beautiful  image,  which  visited  me  in  the  deep 
solitude  of  sleep,  and  stood  before  me  still  bright  as 
the  morning  star  in  the  twilight  of  rekindled  reason. 
But  all  that  my  capricious  memory  has  saved  is  the 
bright  reflection  and  the  music  of  the  words  ;  but  the 
words  themselves,  and  the  features,  which  made  the 
strange  visiter  so  dear,  and  at  the  time  so  important 
to  me,  have  passed  away.  Most  of  our  dreams  and 
reveries  are  indeed  nothing  else  than  a  quaint  and 
superfluous  paraphrase  of  the  plain  text  of  our  waking 
experience,  and  therefore  sink  at  once  into  insignifi- 
cance as  our  eyes  open  upon  the  sober  realities  around 
us.  But,  amidst  this  senseless  masquerade  of  com- 
mon-place occurrences,  dressed  up  in  imposing  cos- 
tumes, to  mock,  amuse,  or  vex  our  childish  fancy, 
now  and  then  there  is  a  form  that  leaves  a  deep 


512  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

impression  on  the  book  of  life  within  us.  But,  shut 
up  in  the  hurry  and  throng  of  more  immediate  cares 
and  interests,  it  may  lie  neglected  and  unknown,  till 
some  kindred  experience,  chance  to  unfold  the  hidden 
record,  and  invest  it  with  prophetic  power.  But  I 
am  bungling  in  your  own  favorite  department  of  hyper- 
physical  speculaiion,  and  will  come  down  at  once  to 
the  simple  narrative  which  I  have  somewhat  ostenta- 
tiously introduced;  —  a  vision  in  an  old  Puritan  meet- 
inghouse in  New  England. 

"  It  was  on  the  last  Sunday  of  the  year,  when  I 
left  the  city  early  in  the  morning,  in  order  to  reach 
in  season  the  distant  village  where  I  had  promised  to 
preach,  with  a  view  to  relieve  the  aged  minister  of  the 
place.  I  had  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  preceding 
night  in  preparation  for  the  solemn  services  of  the 
coming  day.  The  morning  was  cold  and  clear  ;  and, 
as^I  walked  very  fast  with  my  mind  fixed  upon  the 
object  of  my  errand,  I  took  no  notice  of  any  thing^  on 
my  way,  until  the  old  village  church  with  its  lofty  stee- 
ple stood  before  me,  glittering  in  the  morning  sun. 
The  bell  had  not  begun  to  ring.  I  entered  the  church, 
which  was  empty,  and  took  my  place  in  the  high, 
old-fashioned  pulpit.  After  I  had  selected  my  hymns, 
and  opened  the  huge  folio  Bible  at  the  part  from  which 
I  intended  to  read  to  the  people,  I  wrapped  my  cloak 
around  me,  and  sat  down,  waiting  for  the  sound  of  the 
bell,  and  for  the  first  worshippers  to  make  their  ap- 
pearance. The  deep  silence  that  reigned  in  the  large 
empty  building  of  the  oldest  meetinghouse  in  New 
England,  which,  whenever  I  had  been  in  it  before  was 


LIjFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  513 

filled  with  people,  had  an  effect  upon  my  mind  which 
I  do  not  know  how  to  describe.  The  solitary  present 
changed  insensibly  into  an  image  of  the  silent  past ; 
the  whited  walls  of  the  meetinghouse  grew  dim,  and 
assumed  their  primitive  aspect,  such  as  it  was  in  the 
days  of  the  founders  of  this  ancient  settlement  in  the 
then  unknown  wilderness  of  New  England.  My 
eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  door  opposite  the  pulpit, 
when  it  opened,  and,  to  my  unutterable  surprise, 
a  number  of  men,  in  the  sober  pilgrim  dress,  their 
heads  bent  towards  the  earth,  with  their  hats  in  one 
hand,  while  the  other  held  the  musket,  entered,  and 
advanced  with  a  firm  step  toward  different  parts  of 
the  house,  where  they  sat  down  in  silence.  Crowd 
after  crowd  entered,  until  the  floor  of  the  church  was 
filled  with  armed  worshippers.  My  soul  was  trans- 
ported with  awe  and  unearthly  joy  ;  but  the  longer  I 
dwelt  upon  the  grave  assembly  below,  so  much  the 
calmer  I  felt ;  so  much  the  stronger  was  my  convic- 
tion, that  all  there,  and  all  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  are 
fellow-worshippers  of  the  same  Being,  and  that  who- 
ever fears  Him  has  nothing  else  to  fear. 

"  One  old  man,  with  book  in  hand,  took  his  stand 
opposite  the  desk  ;  and  now  a  strange  misgiving  took 
possession  of  my  heart,  lest  I  should  see  the  grave 
shepherd  of  this  unearthly  flock  come  forward  and 
claim  the  place  that  was  occupied  by  an  intruder. 
But  all  was  quiet  below  ;  every  seat  was  filled  ;  and 
they  all  sat  motionless,  with  their  eyes  fixed  upon  the 
ground  ;  even  the  old  sexton  opposite  the  desk,  who 
alone  was  standing  in  the  whole  assembly,  remained 


514  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

in  the  same  posture,  with  book  in  hand,  as  if  he  was 
to  stand  there  for  ever. 

"  Presently  a  noise  was  heard  before  the  house  ; 
upon  which  this  whole  assembly  of  human  statues 
started  up,  grasping  their  muskets,  and,  turning  toward 
the  door,  seemed  on  the  point  of  leaving  their  places. 
The  door  opened  ;  but,  instead  of  the  wild  men  of 
the  forest,  that  lurked  about  the  meetinghouses  of  the 
Puritans,  a  number  of  boys  and  girls,  with  smiling 
faces,  their  Sunday-school  books  under  their  arms, 
entered  the  haunted  temple.  All  my  apprehensions 
now  were  lost  in  fear  for  the  children,  when  they 
should  come  in  sight  of  the  stern  worshippers  from 
another  world.  But  to  my  inexpressible  surprise  and 
delight,  the  little  Sunday  scholars  walked  right  on- 
ward with  light  steps  and  cheerful  looks  toward  their 
accustomed  seats,  and  wherever  they  went  the  dread 
forms  gave  way,  unperceived  by  the  children.  Nay, 
here  and  there  a  smile,  passing  aver  their  stern  features, 
seemed  like  the  reflection  of  the  bright  countenances 
of  the  little  intruders,  as  they  stepped  into  the  places 
of  their  great  forefathers.  The  floor  of  the  church 
was  swarming  with  children.  The  shadowy  host  had 
retreated  to  the  galleries.  There  I  saw  them  with 
their  hats  on,  their  muskets  in  their  hands,  moving 
faster  and  faster  toward  the  centre  of  the  front  gallery 
opposite  the  pulpit,  where  the  whole  moving  mass 
seemed  to  concentrate  in  one  dark  and  shapeless  spot. 
My  eyes  were  fixed  upon  that  spot,  and,  as  I  was 
gazing,  it  assumed  a  shape  that  became  more  and 
more  distinct,  till  it  grew  into  the  form  of  a  gigantic 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.         515 

eagle.  His  claws  grasped  the  railing  of  the  gallery  ; 
his  wings  were  extended  wide  ;  but,  instead  of  fea- 
thers, they  bristled  with  glittering  swords  and  muskets, 
such  as  I  had  seen  but  a  moment  before  in  the  hands 
of  those  dauntless  worshippers  ;  while  his  head  was 
lifted  high,  and  his  great  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the 
morning  sun.  The  red  light  that  flashed  from  that 
sun-bound  vision  overpowered  and  dazzled  my  sight. 
I  covered  my  face  with  my  hands,  but  that  unearthly 
living  emblem  of  the  American  Union,  his  wings  fea- 
thered with  the  arms,  and  his  eyes  refulgent  with  the 
pious  daring,  of  the  forefathers,  stood  still  before  me. 
I  looked  down  upon  the  children,  to  recover  my 
sense  of  the  natural,  which  was  almost  annihilated  by 
the  contemplation  of  those  sublime  and  awful  wonders. 

"  Again  I  looked  up,  and,  in  the  place  of  the 
martial,  gigantic  eagle,  I  beheld  with  delight  the  gentle 
form  of  a  dove.  Now  the  chant  of  the  children 
resounded  from  below  ;  the  dove  spread  out  her 
wings  and  rose  to  the  ceiling.  Now  the  roof  of  the 
house  flew  open  like  a  double  gate,  and  revealed  the 
dome  of  heaven  ;  and  the  dove,  borne  upward  by  the 
swelling  chorus  from  below,  ascended  higher  and 
higher. 

"  With  my  whole  soul  bent  upon  her  upward 
flight,  I  strove  to  catch  the  last  visible  movement  of 
those  celestial  wings,  when  the  gentle  touch  of  a  hu- 
man hand  on  my  shoulder,  waked  me  from  my  reverie. 
The  aged  minister,  whose  services  I  had  come  to 
lighten  on  this  day  by  my  labor  of  love,  stood  by  my 
side,  and  bade  me  welcome  to  his  pulpit. 

"C.  F." 


Dr.  Folleri  is  invited  to  East  Lexington.  —  Takes  Charge  of  a 
Parish  there.  —  The  Erection  of  a  Church  in  Lexington. — 
Letters  to  Dr.  Channing. —  Letters  to  Mr.  Tracy. —  He  is 
invited  to  lecture  in  New  York.  —  Letter  to  Dr.  Channing. 

OUR  plan  forgoing  to  Europe  was  almost  fixed,  and 
our  arrangements  were  nearly  made,  when  Dr.  Follen 
received,  from  the  society  in  Lexington,  which,  as  has 
already  been  noticed,  was  gathered  together  under  his 
care,  a  most  urgent  request  to  come  to  them  and  take 
the  charge  of  their  religious  concerns,  for  a  year  if 
possible,  if  not,  for  six  months.  The  committee 
told  him,  that  the  existence  of  their  society  depended 
upon  him;  that  he  united  them  all,  but  that  no  other 
man  would  ;  that  their  religious  interests  were  all  at 
stake  ;  that  they  all  knew  and  loved  him,  and  that 
their  difficulties,  which  were  many,  would  cease,  if  he 
would  come  to  them  and  be  their  pastor,  at  least  for 
a  time.  They  said  they  were  poor,  and  could  give 
him  only  six  hundred  dollars  a  year  at  present,  but 
that  if  he  did  not  come,  they  should  all  be  scattered. 
They  urged  him  so  earnestly,  that  he  promised  to 
consider  their  proposal.  After  weighing  the  question 
carefully,  and  consulting  with  his  reason  and  con- 


LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  517 

science,  he  came  to  the  conclusion,  that,  as  a  servant 
of  Christ,  who  had  solemnly  devoted  himself  to  the 
ministry  of  his  word,  he  was  hardly  free  to  refuse 
such  an  opportunity  of  laboring  in  his  vineyard.  He 
asked  me,  if  I  was  willing  to  postpone  our  visit  to 
Switzerland,  and  go  to  Lexington  ;  saying  that  he 
himself  found  it  very  hard  to  relinquish  this  long 
hoped-for  pleasure,  but  he  thought  it  right  to  do  so. 
I  agreed  with  him,  that  to  go  and  do  what  he  could 
for  this  little  religious  society,  was  an  unquestionable 
duty,  and  that  we  must  go. 

He  stipulated  with  the  people,  that,  as  they  could 
not  give  him  an  adequate  support,  they  should  not 
call  upon  him  for  parochial  duties  ;  that  all  they  should 
demand  as  a  right,  should  be  preaching  on  Sunday, 
for  that  what  time  he  could  spare  from  writing  sermons, 
he  would  want  to  employ  in  some  way  for  the  sup- 
port of  his  family.  This  the  committee  agreed  to, 
and  on  the  first  of  May  we  went  to  East  Lexington. 
We  had  engaged  a  house,  and  sent  to  New  York  for 
our  furniture,  and  again  we  had  the  pleasure  of  having 
a  roof  of  our  own  over  our  heads.  When  our  furni- 
ture was  opened,  we  discovered  that  all  our  carpels 
were  missing.  They  had  doubtless  been  stolen  by 
a  man  whose  wife  and  child  we  had  saved  from 
starving,  and  on  whom  we  had  conferred  every  sort 
of  kindness.  He  was  a  drunkard,  and  we  hoped  to 
redeem  him,  but  we  failed.  The  carpets  were  a 
heavy  loss,  and  we  had  no  money  to  enable  us  to- 
replace  them,  and  this  was  an  important  addition 
to  our  pecuniary  losses  in  New  York.  "  We 
VOL.  i.  44 


518         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

must  wait  patiently,"  said  my  husband,  "till  I  can 
earn  some  new  ones."  So  sweetly  he  bore  all 
things.  Once  more  he  opened  his  books,  and  put 
them  into  his  book-case,  and  arranged  them  on  shelves 
to  suit  him  in  his  study.  Once  more  he  took  out  all 
his  precious  papers,  and  placed  them  where  he  could 
make  use  of  them.  Once  more  all  the  mute  com- 
panions of  our  various  movings,  our  simple  articles 
of  furniture,  our  few,  but  dearly-loved  pictures,  —  all 
the  senseless,  but  to  us  sacred  and  eloquent  witnesses 
of  our  little  trials  and  our  great  joys,  —  were  unboxed, 
and  so  arranged  as  to  make  us  feel,  that  we  had  once 
more  a  visible  home  in  this  world,  that  we  might  call 
our  own.  Our  friends  in  Lexington  helped  us,  but 
Dr.  Follen  had  to  labor  very  hard  with  his  own  hands, 
as  he  would  not  spend  a  dollar  that  we  could  possibly 
save  ;  but,  with  an  unwearied  cheerfulness,  he  did  all 
that  was  to  be  done,  dwelling  only  upon  what  was 
pleasing  in  our  situation,  and  by  his  patience,  his 
sweetness,  his  courage  and  cheerfulness,  transmuting 
all  evil  into  good,  so  that  what  seemed  at  first  trials, 
became  new  sources  of  happiness  to  us.  When 
he  saw  me  place  any  thing  in  the  room  in  the  way  it 
had  been  placed  in  past  times,  and  as  I  knew  he  liked 
to  see  it,  he  would  exclaim,  "  O,  how  pleasant  to 
have  our  own  home  again  !  "  Our  first  breakfast,  our 
first  dinner,  our  first  supper,  in  our  own  house,  O  ! 
what  a  holy  joy  he  imparted  to  them,  what  festivals 
did  he  make  of  them,  by  the  delight  he  expressed  at 
our  again  having  a  table  of  our  own.  Who,  to  have 
seen  him,  would  have  thought,  that  he  was  making 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  519 

a  great  sacrifice  to  duty  ?  Now  he  hoped  to  finish  his 
"  Psychology."  We  supposed  we  should  have  few 
visiters,  and  he  thought  the  leisure  that  he  had  pro- 
vided for  in  his  agreement  with  the  people,  and  the 
retirement  in  which  we  lived,  would  give  him  ample 
time  to  write.  But  Dr.  Follen  was  never  a  good 
calculator  for  himself,  especially  when  he  saw  an  op- 
portunity of  doing  good  to  others.  He  found,  that 
the  people  were  very  desirous  of  building  a  church, 
and  ready  to  do  all  they  could  for  themselves,  but, 
as  he  thought,  deserving  of  aid  from  others,  and  he 
resolved  to  give  them  all  the  assistance  in  his  power. 
He  tried  to  interest  all  our  friends  in  their  behalf. 
Many  subscribed  simply  for  his  sake,  and  on  the  con- 
dition that  he  was  to  be  their  pastor.  He  encouraged 
the  ladies  of  the  society  in  making  preparations  for  a 
fair  to  aid  in  completing  and  furnishing  the  church ;  he 
wished  me  to  assist  in  it,  and  he  urged  the  people  to 
commence  the  work  immediately.  He  proposed  the 
plan  upon  which  it  was  built.  He  had  it  much  at  heart, 
that  the  little  church  at  East  Lexington  should  not  only 
be  exactly  adapted  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  the 
people,  but  should  be  a  fine  specimen  of  art  in  its 
design  and  proportions,  and  furnish  a  beautiful,  though 
simple  model  for  other  churches,  and  thus  be  an  or- 
nament to  the  village,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  was  to 
be  placed.  He  proved  to  the  people,  that  this  was 
consistent  with  economy  and  convenience.  He  took 
unwearied  pains  in  directing  the  construction  of  the 
model,  which  was  finally  adopted.  The  pulpit,  and  its 
emblematic  ornaments,  were  entirely  of  his  designing. 


520  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

He  put  his  whole  heart  into  this  work,  and  took  a 
very  great  pleasure  in  the  thought  of  "seeing  it  accom- 
plished. 

He  so  inspired  the  people  with  his  own  zeal  and 
courage,  that  they  agreed  to  his  proposal  to  break  the 
ground  for  their  church  on  the  fourth  of  July.  They 
called  upon  him  to  make  an  address  upon  the  occa- 
sion. The  hall  where  the  people  usually  worshipped, 
looked  upon  the  spot  where  they  were  to  erect  their 
new  church  ;  the  young  ladies  of  the  village  dressed 
it  up  with  roses  ;  they  hung  wreaths  round  the  pulpit 
and  the  chandeliers  ;  and  their  pastor,  with  his  heart 
full  of  delight  at  this  beautiful  display  of  taste,  and  at 
the  success  of  his  wishes,  made  an  address,  that  filled 
the  hearts  of  all  who  listened  to  him  with  grateful  joy. 
His  address  was  extempore  ;  he  did  not  know  till  an 
hour  before,  that  he  should  certainly  be  called  upon 
to  make  one.  He  had  just  seen  them  turn  up  the 
ground  for  his  church.  He  made  only  a  very  few 
notes,  in  the  pulpit  ;  his  text  was,  "  No  man  putting 
his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is  fit  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."  After  exhorting  the  peo- 
ple to  show  themselves  worthy,  by  fidelity  to  their 
own  purposes,  and  adherence  to  the  admonition  in 
the  text,  he  spoke  of  the  day  itself,  our  national  ju- 
bilee. The  few  notes,  which  he  made  for  this  oc- 
casion, I  find  among  his  papers. 

"  This  is  the  busy  time  of  haying,  and  the  eager 
sound  of  the  scythe  flying  through  the  perfumed  air, 
reminds  us  of  the  harvest  of  peace  and  plenty,  that 
covers  our  land.  My  friends,  let  us  remember  those 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  521 

who  labored  in  times  past,  and  into  whose  labors  we 
have  entered.  Let  not  the  happy  reapers  forget 
those  who  forged  the  scythe,  and  watered  the  grateful 
meadows  with  their  blood. 

"  This  is  the  season  of  roses,  and  the  fairest  flower 
in  the  noblest  garden  on  earth,  is  that  which  opens  on 
the  fourth  of  July,  the  rose  of  liberty.  Brethren, 
while  we  gaze  on  its  beauty,  and  delight  in  its  per- 
fume, let  us  not  forget,  that  the  thorns  grew  before 
the  blossoms  ;  let  us  remember  those,  who  cherished 
the  plant  while  it  bore  nothing  but  sharp  prickles, 
while  their  prophetic  heroism  beheld  the  flower  al- 
ready among  the  thorns.  The  crown  of  thorns  is 
higher  than  the  garland  of  roses,  which  glory  places 
on  the  brow  of  victory." 

Dr.  Follen  finished  his  address  by  urging  the  im- 
portance and  duty  of  moral,  political,  and  religious 
freedom  to  all,  and  exhorting  them  to  cherish  a 
sacred  respect  for  the  rights  of  all  ;  he  urged  them  to 
consecrate  the  work  they  had  begun  that  day,  by  a 
solemn  purpose,  that  no  one  should  be  excluded  from 
the  church  they  intended  to  erect,  on  account  of  his 
honest  opinions  ;  he  concluded  with  a  most  devout 
and  fervent  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  God  upon  the 
labor  of  their  hands  ;  he  prayed  that  this  church 
might  never  be  desecrated  by  intolerance,  or  bigotry, 
or  party  spirit  ;  that  more  especially  its  doors  might 
never  be  closed  against  any  one,  who  would  plead  in 
it  the  cause  of  oppressed  humanity  ;  that  within  its 
walls  all  unjust  and  cruel  distinctions  might  cease,  and 
that  there  all  men  might  meet  as  brethren. 
44* 


522  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

After  the  plan  was  decided  upon,  and  the  work 
actually  commenced,  Dr.  Follen  thought  that  he 
should  be  able  to  devote  himself  to  his  "  Psycholo- 
gy "  ;  but  it  was  not  so.  There  was  daily  some  call 
upon  him  for  his  advice  or  for  his  actual  services,  and 
he  had  no  leisure  time  left  for  writing,  and  hardly  even 
for  thinking.  He  submitted  to  this  with  his  accus- 
tomed patience  and  sweetness.  I  have  repeatedly 
seen  him  arrange  his  papers,  and  place  himself  at  his 
study-table,  and  heard  him  say,  "  Now  this  day  I 
mean  to  devote  to  writing  ;  I  hope  no  one  will  disturb 
me,"  when,  soon  after,  some  one  of  the  parish 
would  call  to  ask  him  about  something,  and  take  up 
•his  whole  morning  ;  but  he  bore  it  all  without  a  com- 
plaint. He  would  often  say,  "My  '  Psychology'  is 
in  my  mind,  I  am  gathering  materials,  and  getting 
ready  to  write  ;  true,  I  expected  something  else,  and 
engaged  for  it,  but  I  hope  I  am  doing  these  people 
good,  and  I  may  also  be  the  means  of  doing  some- 
thing towards  improving  the  style  of  our  churches  ;  I 
hope  my  little  church  may  become  a  model."  He 
encouraged  and  assisted  me  in  the  efforts  I  was  mak- 
ing to  prepare  for  the  fair,  and  we  both  devoted 
ourselves,  heart  and  hands,  the  whole  summer,  to 
this  one  object.  He  wrote  no  complete  sermons, 
only  the  beginnings  of  many  which  he  finished  in  the 
desk.  He  wrote  a  notice  for  the  "  Christian  Exam- 
iner," of  "  Selections  from  German  Literature  "  ;  he 
also  wrote  a  little  article  for  the  "  Liberty  Bell,"  pub- 
lished at  the  Anti-slavery  fair,  and  made  a  translation 
of  two  of  Korner's  poems  for  the  same  publication  ; 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  523 

one  of  these  poems  was  printed  in  that  volume,  and 
the  next  in  the  one  of  last  year  ;  both  are  to  be  found 
at  the  end  of  this  Memoir.  These  were  the  only 
literary  labors  he  completed  during  this  summer. 

It  had  been  Dr.  Follen's  purpose  to  prepare  a 
course  of  lectures  to  be  delivered  in  Boston  in  the 
winter,  and  in  consequence  of  the  advice  of  some 
friends,  he  determined  to  take  for  his  subject  the  history 
of  Switzerland.  Such  was  his  conviction  that  this 
would  be  an  interesting  topic,  and  that  he  should  have 
a  good  audience,  that  he  engaged  the  large  lecture- 
room  in  the  Temple  to  deliver  them  in.  He  was 
told,  that  the  young  people  would  be  brought  by  their 
parents  to  hear  them  ;  that  all  would  know  that  it  was 
a  history  in  which  he  would  be  entirely  at  home,  and 
to  which  he  would  give  a  peculiar  interest ;  that  his 
lectures  the  last  winter  had  been  abstruse  and  meta- 
physical, but  that  all  sorts  of  people  would  be  inter- 
ested in  the  history  of  Switzerland,  and  that  doubtless 
his  lectures  would  be  popular.  His  own  heart  was 
so  much  in  the  land  of  William  Tell,  and  his  recol- 
lections so  glowing  of  his  residence  there,  that  he 
easily  fell  into  the  belief,  that  he  should  succeed  in 
interesting  others  in  it  ;  and  when,  occasionally,  he 
felt  that  his  scanty  salary  did  not  meet  his  expenses, 
and  that  he  was  trespassing  upon  funds  that  he  meant 
to  reserve,  he  would  comfort  himself  with  the  idea, 
that  the  proceeds  of  the  lectures  would  balance  the 
account.  So  he  dismissed  all  anxiety.  It  was  a 
great  enjoyment  to  him  this  summer  to  be  able  to 
exercise  the  duties  of  hospitality  ;  dear  friends  were 


524  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

often  with  us,  and  he  felt  deeply  grateful  when  it  so 
happened,  that  though,  like  the  Apostle,  he  had 
neither  silver  nor  gold  to  bestow,  yet,  such  as  he  had 
he  could  and  did  give,  to  those  who  were  less  favored 
than  he  in  spiritual  gifts. 

Dr.  Follen  was  singularly  happy  this  year,  and  yet 
all  things  without  him  had  been  different  from  his 
anticipations  and  wishes  ;  he  had  hoped  to  be  in 
Switzerland  ;  he  had  given  up  this  favorite  wish  for 
the  sake  of  building  up  the  church  in  Lexington  ; 
when  he  came  there  his  heart  was  fixed  upon  the  dear 
hope  of  finishing  his  "  Psychology,"  and  of  enjoying 
literary  leisure,  whereas  he  had  not  had  a  day  to  him- 
self;  all  his  time,  all  his  thoughts  were  demanded  by 
the  people  and  their  concerns,  and  he  generously  and 
cheerfully  gave  them  all.  Occasionally  he  would 
sigh,  and  say,  "  O  my  precious  time,  my  cherished 
hope  of  finishing  my  work  on  the  Soul  ; — it  comes 
hard,  but  it  will  not  be  always  so  ; "  and  he  soon  became 
reconciled,  and  gave  himself  up  to  what  seemed  to 
him  the  present  duty.  He  was  greatly  in  hopes,  that 
the  little  society  under  his  care  would  form  a  church 
dedicated  to  religious  freedom,  universal  brother- 
hood, and  a  true  Christian  philanthropy.  The  never- 
forgotten  hope  revived  in  his  heart,  of  carrying  into 
execution  his  favorite  idea  of  a  true  church.  He 
often  invited  the  people  to  meet  together  to  converse 
upon  religious  subjects,  to  express  their  difficulties, 
and  discuss  various  opinions.  He  encouraged  all  to 
speak  freely,  and  wished  to  be  himself  only  one  of 
the  speakers  ;  although  he  did  not  entirely  succeed 


LIFE    OP   CHARLES   POLLEN.  525 

in  this  effort,  he  hoped  finally  to  overcome  the  un- 
willingness of  many  to  communicate  their  religious 
views  and  feelings. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  pleasure  he  took  in 
the  progress  of  the  building  already  consecrated  by 
his  prayers,  and  by  his  self-sacrificing  devotion.  It 
was  close  by  our  house  ;  as  soon  as  he  rose  in  the 
morning,  he  would  look  out  of  the  window  and  say, 
"  There  is  my  pretty  church  ;  how  pleasant  it  is  to 
see  it  growing  daily  under  my  eyes  ;  I  shall  never 
want  to  leave  it ;  "  and  it  was  the  full  purpose  of  his 
heart,  if  the  people  could  support  him  comfortably, 
to  build  a  house  for  himself,  and  remain  there  as  their 
pastor,  after  he  had  first  been  to  Switzerland,  where 
he  still  intended  to  go.  He  also  wished  to  visit 
England,  and  had  written  to  ascertain  from  his 
friend  Harriet  Martineau,  whether  there  was  any 
probability  of  his  getting  a  hearing  in  London  as  a 
lecturer,  hoping  by  this  means  to  defray  his  travelling 
expenses.  A  letter  arrived  after  Dr.  Follen  left 
Lexington,  which  he  never  saw,  encouraging  him  to 
pursue  this  plan  ;  and  a  letter  was  already  written  to 
him,  by  Mrs.  Reid  of  London,  whose  unbounded  hos- 
pitality has  blessed  so  many  travellers  from  our  coun- 
try, inviting  him  to  come  with  his  family  to  her  house 
in  London,  when  she  learned  from  the  papers,  that 
he  was  out  of  the  reach  of  her  thoughtful  and  truly 
Christian  kindness.  "  I  burned  the  letter,"  she  says, 
in  one  she  wrote  afterwards  to  Harriet  Martineau, 
"  and  with  it  threw  away  my  best  hopes  for  this 
year." 


526         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

So  hearty,  so  childlike,  was  the  pleasure  that  he 
would  have  received  from  this  kind  act,  had  he  lived 
to  enjoy  it,  and  so  sincerely  would  he  have  recipro- 
cated a  friendship  resting  so  on  benevolence,  and  on 
love  for  our  mutual  friend,  who,  in  spite  of  distance, 
had  brought  us  together,  that  I  find  a  melancholy,  but 
a  very  dear  pleasure,  in  mentioning  these  circum- 
stances. 

During  a  short  excursion,  that  Dr.  Follen  made 
this  summer  to  Nahant,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  friend 
Dr.  Channing,  which  contains  some  interesting  pas- 
sages. 


f,  August  17th,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  I  am  here  on  a  visit  with  my  wife  and  child,  and 
preached  here  on  Sunday.  I  saw  yesterday  Dr. 
Kirkland.  His  mind  is  very  much  weakened  ;  in  a 
dreamy  state,  with  occasional  bright  intervals.  In 
one  of  these,  I  was  told,  he  spoke  with  great  ten- 
derness and  eloquence  of  the  life  to  come  ;  proof 
enough  that  the  mind  is  the  same,  only  in  a  chrysalis 
state,  awaiting  its  deliverance. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you,  nor  could  I,  how  precious 
and  grateful  to  me  are  the  expressions  of  esteem  and 
affection  in  your  letter.  I  give  up  without  hesitation 
or  regret,  all  angel  visits,  be  they  dreams  or  realities, 
to  the  favored  Svvedenborgian,  for  the  simple  assuran- 
ces of  love  from  living  hearts. 

"  Mr.  P  -  has  mentioned  to  you  my  intention  of 
delivering  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  history  of 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  527 

Switzerland  this  winter.  If  I  could  make  an  ar- 
rangement with  a  society  in  the  city,  as  I  believe  you 
suggested,  on  certain  terms,  relieving  me  from  the 
uncertainty  of  success  if  I  attempt  it  on  my  own  ac- 
count, I  should  be  glad  to  do  so.  But  I  arn  not 
acquainted  with  any  one  that  could  assist  me  in  this 
matter  ;  and  if  you  could  put  me  in  the  way,  I  should 
be  glad  to  avail  myself  of  your  advice  and  help. 

"I  feel  very  much  interested  in  the  recent  eviden- 
ces of  the  increasing  dependence  of  all  social  interests 
on  the  state  of  commerce  and  the  concentration  of 
commercial  power  in  the  Bank  of  England. 

"  The  steam-ship  navigation  seems  to  have  com- 
pleted our  dependence  on  that  market  of  the  world  ; 
and  the  present  consequences  seem  to  me  very  salu- 
tary in  checking  our  wild  speculations  and  reckless 
credit  system.  The  importance  of  our  banks  seems 
to  vanish  more  and  more  ;  they  are  becoming  mere 
branch  banks  of  the  English  institution.  What  would 
be  the  effect  if  the  efforts  of  some  persons  in  England 
to  bring  about  a  divorce  between  the  bank  and  the 
government  should  succeed,  and  all  be  reduced  to 
private  banking  ?  What  is  the  moral  aspect  of  these 
great  social  changes  ?  I  think  it  likely,  that  while 
these  operations  are  going  on,  the  object  of  which 
seems  to  be  to  unsettle  all  the  local  prices  of  things, 
and  settle  their  value  in  the  commerce  of  the  world, 
attention  will  be  drawn  away  from  the  higher  interests 
of  man.  But  the  association  of  all  nations  will  break 
the  spell  of  local  prejudice  and  partial  measurement, 
and  impress  all  men  with  the  truth,  that  among  all 


528  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

human  possessions,  there  is  none  so  important  as  their 
simple  humanity.  But  you  see  I  have  come  to  the 
bottom  of  my  wisdom. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"C.   FOLLEN." 

A  letter  which  Dr.  Follen  wrote  this  summer  to 
Mr.  Tracy,  upon  receiving  his  translation  of  "  Un- 
dine," will  be  read,  I  think,  with  great  interest.  I 
give  it,  with  some  passages  from  his  letters  to  the  same 
friend,  written  some  years  before  ;  as  they  were  all 
in  fact  upon  the  same  subject,  it  seems  best  that  they 
should  be  read  in  connexion. 

"  Cambridge,  August  4th,  1839. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  Pardon  my  having  delayed  until  now  to  answer 
your  letter,  which  has  given  me  much  pleasure.  I 
regret,  that  I  am  not  near  you  to  accompany  and  as- 
sist you  in  your  perambulations  of  the  interminable 
forests  of  German  literature.  But  I  hope  you  will 
frequently  address  to  me  questions  like  those  you 
have  sent  ;  and,  to  assure  you  that  it  will  give  me  no 
trouble,  but  only  pleasure,  to  attend  to  your  inquiries, 
I  shall  always  take  the  liberty  of  putting  off  my  an- 
swer to  a  time  when  no  business  prevents  my  gratify- 
ing my  own  taste  in  serving  my  friends. 

"  I  will  now  answer  your  questions  as  well  as  I 
can.  In  Schiller's  '  Pegasus  Yoked,'  I  suppose  the 
word  '  Haymarket,'  designates  the  long  and  spacious 
street  in  London,  in  which  the  opera-house  stands, 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  529 

and  which  received  its  name  from  there  being  a  mar- 
ket for  hay  and  straw.  A  place,  in  which  every 
thing,  whether  celestial  or  terrestrial,  is  valued  only 
for  the  price  it  will  bring  in  the  market ;  in  an  age  in 
which  every  talent  that  cannot  be  made  use  of  for 
ploughing  and  carrying,  &c.,  is  suffered  to  starve  and 
be  abused.  This  I  suppose  was  the  leading  idea 
which  made  the  poet  lay  the  scene  of  his  story  in  a 
place  consecrated  to  the  Muses,  in  the  employment 
of  Momus.  In  the  second  line,  the  word  '  noch  ' 
has  the  meaning  of  besides  ;  viz.  where  other  things 
besides  are  converted  into  merchandise,  i.  e.,  other 
things,  which,  from  their  nature,  seem  as  little  liable 
to  become  marketable  commodities  as  the  horse  of 
the  Muses.  The  good  old  English  right  of  husbands 
to  sell  their  wives,  and  similar  precious  privileges, 
readily  present  themselves  to  the  mind. 

"  In  the  '  Wizard's  Apprentice,'  in  the  second 
line,  the  particle  '  doch  '  gives  emphasis  to  '  einmal.' 
The  position  of  the  words,  the  verb  standing  at  the 
head,  gives  to  the  sentence  the  expression  of  rejoicing 
that  '  the  old  wizard  has  for  once  gone  away.' 

"  The  words  '  Walle,  walle,'  are  an  address 
or  command  to  the  servant  broom,  '  Go  !  go  !  ' 
'  Strecke  '  means  space,  or  distance  ;  literally,  l  Go  ! 
go  !  many  a  space,'  i.  e.,  great  distance.  The  bath 
is  preparing  in  the  house  of  the  old  wizard  ;  the  broom 
is  sent  with  the  waterpot  to  the  river,  to  fill  the  tub. 

"  The  word  '  erst '  in  the  last  line  strengthens  the 
precedirg  '  nur  '  ('  erst '  frequently  means  'nur,'  i.  e., 
only).  The  old  master  is  the  first,  he  is  the  only  one 

VOL.  i.  45 


530  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

that  calls  you  as  ministering  spirits  to  his  purpose. 
The  proneness  of  mere  learners  to  try  experiments 
before  they  have  mastered  the  principles,  and  com- 
prehended the  object  and  consequences  of  them,  this 
practice,  so  dangerous  in  the  moral  as  well  as  in  the 
physical  sciences,  is  evidently  the  subject  of  humor- 
ous reproof  in  the  poem. 

"  '  Knight  of  Toggenburg.'  The  name  is  derived 
from  the  old  castle  Toggenburg,  in  Switzerland,  in 
the  canton  of  Zurich. 

"  I  believe  I  have  now  answered  all  your  ques- 
tions ;  it  was  a  very  pleasant  task.  Mrs.  F.  joins 
me  in  affectionate  remembrances  to  yourself  and 
Mrs.  Tracy. 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"  CHAS.  FOLLEN." 

"  Watertown,  April  25th,  1835. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  received  your  letter  in  the  midst  of  the  bustle 
of  moving  from  Cambridge  to  Watertown.  I  am 
sorry  that  my  neglect  to  write  to  you  immediately  after 
receiving  the  manuscript  of  your  translation  of  '  Un- 
dine '  should  have  occasioned  any  doubt  on  your 
part,  as  to  the  safe  arrival  of  the  manuscript. 

"  I  shall  now  have  many  leisure  evenings,  and  the 
first  shall  be  devoted  to  the  perusal  of  your  manu- 
script. I  regret  the  delay  of  this  truly  pleasant  task  ; 
but  it  has  been  caused,  in  part  at  least,  by  my  deter- 
mination conscientiously  to  adhere  to  your  wish,  that 
I  would  give  only  leisure  time  to  your  inquiries ;  as  I 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  531 

feel  sure  you  will,  in  this  case,  never  hesitate  to  make 
them  at  any  time." 

"  Watertown,  May  6th,  1835. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  return  to  you  at  last  your  translation  of  '  Un- 
dine,' with  the  original,  and  the  questions  you  sent 
me.  I  hope  you  will  consider  the  freedom  of  rny 
critical  annotations  as  a  proof  of  the  interest  with 
which  I  have  perused  your  translation.  Mrs.  Follen, 
who  read  it  to  me  while  I  was  comparing  it  with 
the  original,  joins  me  in  thanking  you  for  the  great 
pleasure  you  have  afforded  us.  I  can  only  hope  that 
it  may  soon  be  printed  for  the  benefit  of  many  a  sim- 
ple, affectionate,  and  wonder-loving  heart. 

"  I  hope  that  the  beautiful  days  of  summer,  if 
there  be  any  to  come,  will  bring  either  you  to  our 
quarters,  or  us  to  yours.  With  kind  regards  to 
Mrs.  Tracy, 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

"  East  Lexington,  August  21  st,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  received  your  beautiful  version  of  '  Undine  '  in 
the  midst  of  bustling  preparations  for  our  Fair  ;  and 
gladly  avail  myself  of  the  first  interval  of  leisure  after 
a  journey  to  Nahant,  where  I  preached  last  Sunday, 
to  thank  you  for  your  welcome  gift,  and  the  kind 
words  which  accompanied  it.  I  hope  that  many  will 
drink  of  the  '  little  spring  of  silver  brightness,'  and, 


532  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

if  there  be  danger  that  the  present  age  become  so 
wise  as  to  disdain  every  acquaintance  with  water- 
spirits,  or  any  other  kind  of  spirits,  and  in  its  pride  of 
knowledge  forget  what  the  education  of  the  heart  owes 
to  the  ministry  of  romance,  and  more  especially  to 
the  visions  and  traditions  of  the  nursery,  those  surely 
are  deserving  well  of  their  generation,  who  endeavour 
to  draw  their  attention  to  the  low  murmur  of  that 
'  little  spring,'  the  Undine  of  the  heart,  whose  image 
is  brought  before  us  in  the  German  story. 

"  I  was  glad  to  learn,  from  your  letter,  that  your 
attention  was  turned  to  the  '  Galgen  Mannlein,'  and 
that  you  intend  to  introduce  it  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
branch  of  the  Great  Family  in  a  new  translation,  to- 
gether with  some  kindred  compositions,  translated 
and  original.  If  I  were  near  you,  it  would  give  me 
great  pleasure  to  render  you  any  assistance  in  my 
power  ;  but  I  think  you  may  give  yourself  up  con- 
fidently to  the  guidance  of  that  '  German  instinct,' 
which  has  served  you  so  well  in  the  translation  of 
;  Undine.'  The  Fair  in  our  village,  in  which  you 
have  expressed  a  kind  interest,  has  been,  beyond  all 
expectation,  successful.  The  weather  was,  on  the 
whole,  favorable,  the  tents  on  the  top  of  the  high  hill 
in  the  centre  of  the  east  village,  looked  very  well, 
and  there  was  a  large  number  of  visiters.  The  sale 
of  the  articles  amounted  to  more  than  eleven  hundred 
dollars,  the  expenses  to  about  three  hundred,  so  that 
there  are  eight  hundred  left  free  of  expense.  We 
hope  our  church  will  be  dedicated  about  the  middle 
of  November.  The  people  are  full  of  zeal. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  533 

"  Mrs.  Follen  joins  me  in  affectionate  regards  to 
you  and  Mrs.  Tracy. 

"  Your  friend  and  servant, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

Dr.  Follen  was  invited  this  autumn  to  a  meeting 
in  West  Cambridge,  of  a  number  of  Sunday  schools, 
where  some  gentlemen,  interested  in  the  subject, 
were  expected  to  speak  to  the  children,  and  he,  among 
others,  was  asked  to  address  the  youthful  audience. 
He  was  much  pleased  and  affected  at  the  sight  of  so 
many  children  together,  and  the  words  he  spoke  to 
the  teachers  and  their  little  pupils  gratified  them  so 
much,  that,  after  the  meeting,  they  presented  him 
with  a  beautiful  bunch  of  flowers,  as  an  expression 
of  their  feelings.  He  joined  them  at  a  little  rural 
fete  they  had  afterwards  in  a  neighbouring  wood,  and 
returned  home  with  his  heart  full  of  joy.  Holding 
his  own  boy  in  one  hand,  and  his  bunch  of  flowers  in 
the  other,  "  Here,"  he  said,  his  face  glowing  with  de- 
light, "  see  my  trophies." 

His  love  of  the  beautiful  was  intense,  in  its  most 
humble  as  well  as  sublime  manifestations.  I  have 
seen  him  gaze  at  the  wings  of  an  insect  till,  I  am 
sure,  he  must  have  committed  all  its  exquisite  color- 
ing and  curious  workmanship  to  memory.  One  Sun- 
day, when  he  had  walked  far  into  the  country  to 
preach,  he  was  requested  to  address  the  children  of 
the  Sunday  school.  He  gave  them  an  account  of  a 
blue  dragon-fly  that  he  had  seen  on  his  way.  He 
described  it,  with  the  clear  blue  sky  shining  through 
45* 


534  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

its  thin  gauzy  wings,  and  its  airy  form  reflected  in  the 
still  pure  water  over  which  it  hovered,  looking  doubt- 
ful whether  to  stay  here  or  return  to  the  heavens 
from  whence  it  apparently  came.  He  sought,  by 
interesting  the  children  in  its  beauty,  to  awaken  feel- 
ings of  admiration  and  love  towards  all  the  creatures 
that  God  has  created.  Nothing  could  exceed  his 
tenderness  towards  animals  ;  he  would  let  the  cat  sit 
upon  his  shoulder  and  walk  over  his  study-table  un- 
disturbed, and  I  have  seen  him  wait  patiently  till  she 
had  passed  very  deliberately  over  the  paper  upon 
which  he  was  writing.  I  once  noticed  a  spider 
crawling  over  his  paper ;  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not 
put  it  out  of  the  window.  "He  is  travelling  about 
so  busily,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  like  to  disturb  him." 
This  cat,  that  he  was  so  indulgent  to,  he  had  brought 
out  all  the  way  from  Boston  when  a  kitten,  with  other 
bundles,  in  his  hands,  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  Charles. 
He  often  said,  when  he  saw  butterflies,  that  he  was 
sorry  that  he  had  killed  so  many  when  he  was  a  boy 
for  the  sake  of  making  a  collection.  Although  he 
used  to  like  fishing  so  much  (when  a  boy),  he  had 
lost  his  love  of  it  entirely.  "  If  it  were  necessary 
for  food,"  he  would  say,  "  I  could  do  it,  but  I  can- 
not for  amusement." 

It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  him  to  meet  with  the  love 
of  the  beautiful  in  others,  especially  under  circumstan- 
ces where  it  might  seem  unlikely  to  find  it.  An  in- 
stance of  this  kind  I  well  remember  in'  the  course  of 
our  last  summer.  He  was  called  to  visit  a  young  wo- 
man, who  was  dying  of  a  rapid  consumption.  He  no- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  535 

ticed,  in  the  frequent  visits  he  made  her,  that  she  al- 
ways had  flowers  near  her  ;  this  pleased  him  much. 
The  day  before  she  died,  a  favorite  flower  of  hers 
was  brought  to  her,  that  had  just  opened  all  its  blos- 
soms ;  she  expressed  great  joy  at  the  sight.  The 
next  day  she  died  ;  it  was  the  fourth  of  July,  the  day 
that  she  was  to  have  been  married.  A  small,  pretty, 
neat  cottage  had  been  built,  and  was  all  finished  and 
ready  for  her  and  her  intended  husband,  and  they 
were  to  have  entered  it  on  their  wedding  day.  In- 
stead of  this,  she  died  on  that  day,  and  in  a  small 
enclosure  next  the  house  her  body  was  consigned  to 
the  earth,  and  her  lover  had  to  go  about  his  daily 
labors,  for  he  was  a  poor  man,  lonely  and  sorrowing. 
This  melancholy  cottage  was  on  our  road  to  Boston, 
and  never  did  we  pass  it,  that  my  husband  did  not 
look  sorrowfully  at  it,  and  "pay  the  tribute  of  a  sigh," 
or  a  thoughtful  word  of  tender  remembrance,  to  this 
touching  instance  of  the  uncertainty  of  human  hope. 

Dr.  Follen  showed  his  love  and  his  perception  of 
the  beautiful  in  the  way  he  examined  and  enjoyed  works 
of  art ;  he  never  felt  that  he  knew  any  thing  of  a  fine 
picture  or  statue,  till  he  had  looked  at  it  long  enough 
to  become  familiar  with  all  its  minutest,  as  well  as 
most  striking,  beauties  ;  till  he  had  made  it  a  study 
and  become  intimate  with  it.  "  I  must  get  it  by 
heart,"  he  would  say.  His  description  of  Green- 
ough's  group  of  the  "  Angel  and  Child,"  shows  how 
accurately  he  observed,  and  how  he  mastered  the  sub- 
ject. His  pleasure,  therefore,  in  a  work  of  art  had 
almost  the  character  of  an  old  friendship,  for  nothing 


536  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

but  the  truly  beautiful  could  stand  the  trial  of  such  scru- 
tiny and  faithful  study.  His  enjoyment  of  all  those 
small  acts  of  love,  which  give  a  grace  and  charm  to  life 
as  it  passes,  was  acute.  He  was  much  gratified  with 
little  keepsakes.  Christmas  and  New  Year's  gifts, 
when  they  were  expressions  of  real  regard,  gave  him  a 
true  delight ;  he  cherished  and  never  lost  them.  I  have 
before  me  a  note,  that  he  wrote  to  a  little  girl  who 
had  sent  him  a  pair  of  embroidered  slippers,  which 
shows  how  such  things  pleased  him. 

"December  28th,  1836. 
"  DEAR  MARY, 

"  I  have  just  found  the  little  note  which  accom- 
panied your  very  pretty,  as  well  as  useful,  present. 
The  note  was  hidden  in  the  paper  which  contained 
the  slippers,  and  there  it  remained  till  now,  on  pur- 
pose, no  doubt,  to  add  a  new  pleasure  to  that  of 
yesterday.  If  a  feather  in  the  cap  be  such  a  grand 
thing,  why  should  not  flowers  on  the  shoes  be  con- 
sidered a  still  more  elegant  article  ? 

"  1  thank  you.,  dear  Mary,  for  this  beautiful  ex- 
pression of  your  kind  regard  for 

"  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

He  loved  to  make  little  presents  to  his  friends,  and 
often  lamented  his  limited  means,  which  prevented 
his  giving  them  what  would  have  a  substantial  value. 
Nothing  pleased  him  more  than  that  refined,  confiding 
sportiveness,  which  is  the  best  evidence  of  a  perfect 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

love  among  friends.  Once,  when  some  ladies,  inti- 
mate friends  of  his,  whom  he  had  assisted  in  climbing 
up  a  pretty  steep  hill,  had,  as  they  thought,  unobserved 
by  him,  planned  a  little  trick  to  push  him  down  the 
hill,  he  perceived  their  purpose,  and,  before  they  were 
aware  of  it,  took  an  arm  of  each,  and  forced  them  to 
perform  the  very  feat  that  they  had  intended  for  him. 
When  he  contrived  once  to  put  a  New  Year's  gift 
upon  my  pillow  without  waking  me,  he  enjoyed,  like  a 
child,  my  astonishment  and  pleasure  upon  waking  and 
finding  it  there.  Nothing  could  exceed  his  delight  at 
a  surprise  contrived  by  Mrs.  F.  Butler  and  two  other 
friends,  who  came  one  night,  when  we  were  in  Stock- 
bridge,  and  serenaded  us  with  three  or  four  delicious 
songs,  and,  the  moment  we  attempted  to  speak  to 
them,  vanished  from  our  sight  ;  he  often  spoke  of  it 
with  great  satisfaction.  No  one  bore  a  jest  so  sweetly 
as  Dr.  Follen.  He  was  liable  to  fits  of  deep  abstrac- 
tion, and  often,  after  thinking  intensely  for  some  time, 
he  would  fall  into  a  light  sleep.  Charles  once  asked 
him  a  question  when  he  was  in  this  state, — he  answer- 
ed slowly  and  solemnly,  "  There  are  certain  first  prin- 
ciples ;  "  here  his  speech  was  cut  short  by  our  loud 
laugh  ;  he  joined  in  our  merriment,  and  relished  highly 
the  pleasure  his  little  boy  took  in  telling  this  story  to 
our  friends.  I  once  wrote  a  little  drama  to  amuse 
some  children,  in  which  the  hero  of  the  piece  was  a 
student,  who  was  subject  to  absence  of  mind,  and  in- 
troduced this  and  some  other  real  anecdotes  of  the 
same  kind  ;  when  he  read  it  he  was  much  pleased,  and 
said,  "  I  suppose  I  am  to  act  my  own  character." 


538  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

If  there  had  been  only  the  children  present,  I  doubt 
not  he  would  have  done  so. 

When  he  once  made  a  very  comical  mistake,  in 
English,  in  speaking  to  the  cook,  she  laughed  rudely 
in  his  face  ;  instead  of  being  annoyed,  he  joined  in  the 
laugh,  and  came  and  repeated  his  words  to  me,  that 
I  might  tell  him  what  was  so  amusing  in  his  mistake. 
An  account  of  all  his  little  unthought-of,  unasked-for 
acts  of  kindness,  would  be  a  history  of  his  whole  life, 
for  it  was  full  of  them  ;  they  so  comforted  and  glad- 
dened the  hearts  of  those  who  lived  with  him  and 
were  dependent  upon  him,  that  he  made  existence 
seem  like  a  perpetual  holyday.  One  or  two  instances 
of  his  self-forgetting,  self-sacrificing  kindness  will 
show  the  common,  every-day  character  of  his  life. 
The  family  were  assembled  together  one  Thanks- 
giving evening,  to  see  a  little  drama  acted  by  the 
children.  Just  before  the  performance  commenced, 
it  was  remembered,  that  in  the  hurry  and  excitement 
of  preparation  for  the  evening,  one  member  of  the 
family,  who  was  to  be  invited,  had  been  forgotten. 
Dr.  Follen  had  walked  out  into  the  country,  seven 
miles  and  back  again,  to  preach  ;  but,  as  soon  as  he 
heard  of  this  omission,  he  said,  "  I  will  go  and  bring 
him,  we  must  not  give  him  a  chance  to  refuse  ;  "  it 
was  a  pretty  long  walk,  and  he  was  really  fatigued 
with  preaching,  but  he  went,  and  soon  returned  with 
his  face  radiant  with  the  pleasure  of  successful  be- 
nevolence. 

My  sister,  who  was  making  us  a  visit  the  summer 
we  lived  in  Lexington,  was  fond  of  having  a  pail  of 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  539 

cold  water  directly  from  the  well  every  morning.  Our 
well  was  dry,  and  we  had  to  go  to  a  neighbour's  for 
water  ;  but  every  morning  early,  with  his  own  hands, 
he  brought  a  pail  of  water  and  placed  it  at  her  cham- 
ber door.  As  our  means  were  very  limited,  and  as  we 
had  only  the  service  of  one  woman,  he  brought  much 
of  the  wood  and  water  that  we  used  in  the  family. 
He  would  often  say,  "  How  differently  we  view  these 
menial  offices  when  we  perform  them  for  those  we 
love  ;  then  every  thing  has  a  charm,  every  thing  seems 
holy."  One  more  instance  I  must  give  of  his  benev- 
olence. We  had  engaged  to  pass  two  or  three  days 
with  a  friend  in  Brookline.  We  had  long  been  an- 
ticipating this  pleasure.  We  went  into  Boston  to  take 
the  stage  from  thence  to  our  friend's,  which  was  four 
miles  the  other  side  of  the  city.  Dr.  Follen  was 
just  stepping  into  the  coach,  when  some  one  stop- 
ped him,  to  say  that  a  poor  sick  girl,  whom  we  had 
urged  to  go  to  the  hospital,  but  in  vain  on  account 
of  some  superstitious  fear  which  she  had  of  the 
place,  had  said,  that  if  he  would  take  her  to  Boston 
in  a  chaise,  and  carry  her  himself  to  the  hospital,  she 
would  go  ;  he  immediately  left  us  to  go  by  ourselves, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  poor  invalid.  Just  after 
he  joined  us  again  in  Boston,  a  man  came  express 
from  Lexington  for  him  to  attend  the  funeral  of  his 
child.  This  person  was  not  his  parishioner,  he  had 
no  claim  whatever  upon  him  ;  but  he  would  not  be 
persuaded  that  another  clergyman  would  do  as  well. 
It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  Dr.  Follen,  and  to 
our  friends,  but  he  could  not  find  it  in  his  heart  to 


540  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

refuse  the  poor  man  ;  and  upon  condition  that,  after 
the  funeral,  he  would  send  him  to  Brookline,  he  re- 
turned with  him  to  Lexington.  No  vehicle,  however, 
could  be  found  to  carry  him  to  Brookline,  but  a  cart, 
with  a  miserable  horse,  and  a  little  boy  to  drive  him. 
It  was  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  and  almost  dark  when 
they  set  out.  Dr.  Follen  did  not  like  that  the  boy 
should  have  such  a  long  way  to  travel  back  in  the 
dark  alone,  so,  before  he  was  half  way  to  his  place  of 
destination,  he  sent  the  little  fellow  home,  and  walked 
the  rest  of  the  way  ;  he  had  to  pass  over  a  bridge 
that  was  repairing,  and  that  it  was  very  unsafe  to  cross 
in  the  dark.  He  arrived  at  our  friend's  house  very 
late  in  the  evening  of  this  day,  which  he  had  set  apart 
for  pleasure.  He  was  faint  and  wearied,  but  his  soul 
was  rejoicing  at  the  thought  that  he  had  given  comfort 
to  the  poor  and  the  sorrowful.  This  was  only  one 
of  many  days  passed  in  such  acts  of  self-sacrifice. 

So  strong  was  Dr.  Follen's  desire  to  have  a  per- 
manent home,  that  he  indulged  many  fond  dreams 
this  summer,  that  the  people  would  be  able  to  give 
him  an  adequate  support.  He  had  decided  upon  a 
spot  of  ground  where,  in  this  case,  he  should  build 
a  house.  It  was  on  the  side  of  a  hill,  with  a  fine 
grove  to  shelter  it  on  two  sides.  There  was  a  beau- 
tiful view  of  the  dis.tant  country  from  it,  and  he  could 
look  directly  down  on  the  village,  with  his  pretty  little 
church  in  the  middle  of  it.  Here  he  daily  brought 
me,  to  help  him  decide  how  the  house  should  be 
placed,  how  large  it  should  be  ;  all,  even  to  the  small- 
est arrangement,  was  decided  upon  ;  all,  in  his  hope- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ful  heart  and  lively  imagination,  was  already  com- 
pleted. His  study,  all  the  arrangements  for  his 
books  and  papers,  Charles's  room,  the  guest's  cham- 
ber, all  was  planned,  and  possessed,  in  our  creative 
imaginations.  Hour  after  hour  have  we  sat  there  up- 
on a  moss-grown  rock,  anticipating  future  labors  and 
future  joys  in  our  quiet,  happy  home.  He  would  smile 
when  we  set  out  for  a  walk,  and  say,  "  I  am  for  our 
seat  on  the  hill  where  our  house  is  to  be  ;  there  is  no 
place  so  pleasant  as  that  to  me." 

Dr.  Follen  occasionally,  at  these  times,  but  not 
often,  alluded  to  the  fact,  that  his  whole  life,  as  it  re- 
garded worldly  success,  had  been  a  series  of  failures, 
never  with  any  bitterness,  seldom  with  any  thing  like 
despondency.  "  Had  1  been  willing,"  he  has  said, 
"to  lower  rny  standard  of  right,  the  world  would  have 
been  with  me,  and  I  might  have  obtained  its  favor. 
I  have  been  faithful  to  principle  under  all  circumstan- 
ces, and  I  had  rather  fail  so,  than  succeed  in  another 
way  ;  besides,  I  shall  do  something  yet ;  I  am  not 
discouraged,  and  we  are  happy  in  spite  of  all  things." 
He  was,  however,  very  weary  of  the  continual 
changes  we  had  made,  and  more  especially  of  a 
continual  change  of  place  ;  he  longed  for  a  more 
permanent  local  home.  Moreover  he  had  great  hope 
of  establishing  a  truly  Christian  church  at  Lexington, 
according  to  his  own  idea  ;  and  even  his  attach- 
ment to  the  pretty  building  he  had  done  so  much  to- 
wards erecting,  had  some  influence  with  him  ;  there 
was  of  course  a  growing  interest  in  the  people  under 
his  care,  and  he  believed  that  they  had  a  great  affection 

VOL.  i.  46 


542  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

for  him.  All  these  reasons  would  have  induced  him 
to  settle  with  them  upon  certain  conditions,  had  they 
been  prepared  for  such  an  arrangement ;  but  they  de- 
termined to  wait  till  their  house  was  dedicated,  and 
their  pews  sold  ;  so  that  nothing  definite  was  decided 
upon. 

Some  time  this  autumn  Dr.  Follen  received  an  in- 
vitation through  Mr.  Delf,  from  the  Merchant's  Libra- 
ry Association,  in  New  York,  to  deliver  five  or  six 
lectures  to  them  upon  some  branch  of  German  litera- 
ture. As  only  distinguished  and  popular  lecturers  were 
invited,  he  was  much  gratified  with  this  proposal  ;  it 
proved  to  him,  that  he  was  not  quite  forgotten  in  New 
York  ;  and  this  was  very  grateful  to  his  feelings.  We 
had  dear  friends  there  whom  we  wished  to  visit ;  the 
compensation  was  handsome,  and,  in  the  present  state 
of  his  finances,  very  important  to  him,  and  he  decided, 
without  hesitation,  to  go.  His  course  was  to  consist 
of  one  lecture  upon  the  general  history  of  German 
literature,  and  the  remainder  on  the  poetical  writings 
of  Schiller.  He  insisted  that  Charles  and  I  should 
accompany  him,  and  never  entered  upon  any  project 
with  more  hope  and  pleasure.  He  was  obliged  to 
defer  the  time  of  the  delivery  of  his  lectures  to  the 
27th  of  December,  on  account  of  his  lectures  in 
Boston,  which  would  last  till  near  that  time. 

The  summer  had  now  passed,  and  with  it  had  dis- 
appeared Dr.  Follen's  hope  of  completing  his  "Psy- 
chology," and  of  doing  many  other  things  which  he 
had  planned,  and  hoped  to  do.  He  had,  indeed, 
stipulated  in  his  agreement  with  the  people,  that  he 


\ 

LIFE   OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  543 

should  have  the  full  command  of  his  time,  except  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  what  might  be  necessary  for  his  du- 
ties in  the  pulpit  ;  but  he  had  made  no  agreement  with 
himself,  that  could  bind  him  not  to  give,  where  it  was 
wanted,  all  the  aid  that  he  had  to  bestow.  He  saw 
that  he  could  do  good,  and,  with  him,  that  was  a  bond 
always  binding.  He  had  given  himself  up  to  others  ; 
his  time,  his  thoughts,  his  whole  heart  had  been  devot- 
ed to  the  people,  and  to  making  the  plan,  and  find- 
ing the  means  for  the  erection,  of  their  church.  It 
had  been  his  purpose,  and  his  wish,  to  pass  the  winter 
in  Boston,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  weeks'in  New 
York  ;  but  he  was  induced  to  alter  this  determination, 
and  to  decide  to  remain  in  Lexington.  He  agreed  to 
continue  another  six  months  with  the  people,  upon 
the  same  terms,  that  is,  three  hundred  dollars.  This, 
of  course,  especially  in  the  winter  season,  was  very 
inadequate  to  his  support ;  but  he  depended  upon  his 
lectures  in  Boston  and  New  York  to  supply  all  defi- 
ciences.  His  conviction,  that  the  good  of  the  society 
depended  upon  his  remaining  with  them,  was  his  great 
reason  for  staying. 

Dr.  Follen  received  a  letter  from  Dr.  Channing  this 
autumn,  asking  him  what  he  thought  was  the  state  of 
public  sentiment  in  Switzerland,  in  relation  to  the 
right  of  husbands  over  their  wives  ;  the  D'Hauteville 
case  had  led  to  this  question.  His  reply  will  be  read 
with  interest. 


544  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

"  East  Lexington,  September  26th,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  SIR, 

"  I  thank  you  for  the  few  lines  which  you  sent  by 
my  friend  Foresti,  with  whom  we  have  passed  here 
an  interesting  and  very  pleasant  day.  I  have  now 
only  a  few  minutes  to  say,  that  Eliza  and  myself  are 
preparing  in  our  minds  a  longer  epistle  on  the  interest- 
ing topic  your  last  letter  suggested. 

u  As  to  public  sentiment  in  Switzerland,  I  think 
there  is  not  so  great  a  difference  between  this  and 
that  country,  as  the  claims  of  the  gentleman  you  speak 
of  seem  to  suppose.  There  is,  however,  a  number 
of  old  pietistic  and  aristocratic  families,  in  which  the 
divine  right  of  the  husband  to  rule  over  his  wife  is 
among  the  established  notions. 

"  They  countenance  each  other  in  what  the  mass 
of  the  people,  as  well  as  the  most  enlightened  class, 
have  long  abandoned  as  relics  of  barbarism. 

"  I  agree  with  you  entirely  in  your  anticipation  of 
the  probable  consequences  of  our  increased  inter- 
course with  Europe. 

"  Your  friend, 

«C.  FOLLEN." 

In  a  letter,  written  shortly  afterwards,  to  the  same 
friend,  he  says  ; 

"October  l\th,  1839. 

"  My  affairs  in  this  village  are  essentially  the  same. 
The  people  have  formed  themselves  into  a  society 
under  the  name  of  The  Christian  Association  of  East 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  545 

Lexington.  They  have  passed  a  vote  to  request  me 
to  continue  with  them,  promising  to  increase  my 
salary  as  soon  as  it  is  in  their  power. 

"  The  new  church  will  be  ready  for  dedication 
probably  about  the  middle,  or  the  latter  part,  of  No- 
vember. It  is  to  be  a  temple  of  freedom,  and  as 
such  commends  itself  to  you,  and  I  trust  it  will  be 
dedicated  by  you  to  its  service.  What  a  free  and 
noble  stand  Mr.  Pierpont  has  taken.  Will  you  not 
take  up  the  cause  of  the  freedom  of  the  Christian 
pulpit  ?  I  have  just  heard  that  the  great  Regulator 
has  already  fulfilled  the  prediction  of  General  Jack- 
son. Sympathizing  sincerely  with  so  many  innocent 
individuals  involved  in  the  failure,  I  cannot  but  re- 
joice in  the  deliverance  of  the  public  from  this  ruin- 
ous delusion. 

"  Your  friend, 

"C.  FOLLEN.". 


46* 


CHAPTER    XXII. 


Dr.  Follen  delivers  his  Lectures  on  Switzerland.  —  Letter  to 
Dr.  Channing.  —  Letters  of  Invitation  to  the  Dedication  of 
the  Church  in  East  Lexington.  —  Departure  for  New  York. — 
Lectures  on  Schiller.  —  Illness  of  his  Wife.  —  Letter  to  the 
Committee  of  the  Parish  in  Lexington.  —  Dedication  Sermon. 
—  His  Departure  from  New  York. 

DR.  FOLLEN  commenced  his  lectures  on  Switzer- 
land in  Boston,  on  the  5th  of  November  ;  he  had 
taken  the  usual  means  to  secure  public  attention  to 
them,  and  he  felt  assured,  that  he  should  meet  with  a 
tolerable  degree  of  success.  He  had,  as  usual,  put 
tickets  in  the  stores  of  different  booksellers,  but,  being 
in  the  country,  he  did  not  know  how  many  had  been 
sold.  Lest  more  should  be  wanted,  he  intended  to 
take  another  hundred  with  him  the  day  he  went  to  de- 
liver the  first  lecture.  While  we  were  on  the  way  to 
town,  he  remembered  he  had  left  them  at  home,  and 
spoke  of  returning  ;  but  I  thought  it  not  worth  while. 
He  smiled,  and  said,  "  Perhaps  you  fear  a  repetition 
of  the  story  of  the  study-table  on  New  Year's  day, 
but  I  do  not  ;  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  have  a  pretty 
good  audience  ;  I  always  have  had." 

Soon  after  our  arrival  in  the  city,  he  came  to  me 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  547 

and  told  me,  that  there  were  not  a  dozen  tickets 
taken,  and  that  the  expenses  of  the  hall  would  not  be 
half  paid  ;  he  was  serious,  but  calm  as  a  summer 
morning,  when  he  told  me  this.  "  What  will  you 
do  ? "  said  I.  "  I  shall  deliver  my  lecture  this  even- 
ing to  whoever  is  there,  and,  before  the  second  lec- 
ture, perhaps  some  arrangement  may  be  made,  though 
I  know  not  what.  But  I  am  responsible  for  the  hire 
of  the  hall;  I  shall  have  at  any  rate  to  pay  for  that." 

He  devoted  himself  the  whole  afternoon  to  the 
faithful  study  of  his  manuscript,  with  as  much  earnest- 
ness and  care  as  if  he  had  been  going  to  deliver  it  to 
a  thousand  people  ;  he  hoped  that  some  tickets  might 
be  sold  at  the  door,  and  he  resolved  at  any  rate  to  fix 
his  mind  upon  his  present  duty. 

When  we  entered  the  large  hall  intended  for  a 
numerous  assembly,  we  saw,  gathered  together 
around  the  desk  of  the  speaker,  perhaps  a  dozen 
people  ;  by  the  time  the  lecture  commenced,  a  few 
more  hearers  were  added,  so  that  the  company  per- 
haps amounted  to  nearly  thirty.  Most  of  these  were 
our  relations  or  intimate  friends.  Dr.  Follen  rose, 
and  with  a  serenity  in  his  countenance,  that  spoke  of 
a  peace  that  nothing  could  disturb,  commenced  his 
lecture.  He  addressed  the  little  group  before  him  as 
if  he  did  not  perceive,  or  did  not  heed,  the  almost 
endless  rows  of  empty  seats  before  and  around  him, 
and  as  if  he  did  not  feel  the  forlorn  and  chilling  influ- 
ence of  the  hollow  sound,  which  the  distant  walls  of 
the  large,  vacant  hall  gave  to  his  full,  though  gentle 
voice. 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 


The  history  of  Switzerland,  I  doubt  not,  was  for- 
gotten in  the  history  of  the  man,  who  stood  before 
them.  I  do  not  believe  there  was  one  of  his  hearers 
whose  heart  did  not  throb  with  a  new  perception  of 
moral  excellence  and  dignity.  With  the  same  simple 
earnestness  and  hearty  interest  in  his  subject,  which 
was  characteristic  of  his  usual  manner  of  speaking  in 
public,  he  delivered  his  beautiful  lecture  to  this  hand- 
ful of  friends.  He  had  believed,  that  there  were 
enough  people  in  Boston  interested  in  the  history  of 
Switzerland,  to  give  him  a  tolerable  audience  ;  he  was 
altogether  unprepared  for  such  a  result.  But  no  one 
saw  him  struggling  to  repress  his  feelings  of  disap- 
pointment ;  they  saw  that  he  did  repress,  did  conquer 
them  entirely.  There  was  no  apparent  effort,  no 
seeming  ;  he  was  all  that  a  truly  good  and  great  man 
could  and  ought  to  be  upon  such  an  occasion  ;  a 
small  one  it  may  seem,  and  perhaps  it  really  was  so, 
but  many  a  great  man  would  have  found  it  too  much 
for  him.  A  friend  observed,  on  coming  out  of  the 
lecture-room,  that  it  was  better  than  all  lectures  to 
see  Dr.  Follen. 

As  we  went  home  that  night  to  Lexington,  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  eight  miles,  he  simply  said,  "It 
is  evident,  that  I  am  not  the  fashion  in  Boston."  He 
uttered  no  complaint  ;  there  was  the  same  serene 
composure  in  his  manner,  the  same  quiet,  cheerful 
acquiescence  in  disappointment,  when  we  were  alone, 
as  there  had  been  in  the  lecture-room.  "  We  must 
think,"  he  said,  "  what  is  to  be  done  ;  I  wish  I  could 
get  rid  of  the  whole  affair,  and  return  to  my  Psy- 
chology." 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  549 

The  next  day  he  wrote  the  following  letter  to  his 
friend  Dr.  Channing,  who  had,  by  some  accident, 
been  prevented  from  being  present  at  his  lecture. 

"  East  Lexington,  November  6th,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"You  may  have  heard  of  the  small  number  of 
hearers  I  had  for  my  first  lecture,  yesterday  evening. 
I  was  prepared  for  the  disappointment  ;  and,  if  I  had 
not  been  so,  I  hope  I  should  have  submitted  with 
good  humor.  To  judge  from  the  number  of  those  pres- 
ent, I  do  not  think  that  the  tickets  sold  would  defray 
more  than  half  the  expenses.  I  do  not  know,  howev- 
er, how  many  were  sold  in  the  afternoon  at  the  book- 
stores, and  some  friends  thought  there  would  be  a 
larger  number  next  time.  If  there  should  be  enough 
barely  to  cover  the  expenses  of  the  hall,  advertise- 
ments, &c.,  which  amount  to  one  hundred  and  forty 
dollars,  I  am  determined  to  go  on  and  finish  the 
course.  But  if  I  should  find,  next  Tuesday,  that  the 
tickets  sold  do  not  cover  the  cost,  I  suppose  it  will 
not  be  thought  unfair  if  I  request  the  audience  to  re- 
lease me  from  my  obligation  to  finish  the  course,  and 
allow  me  to  return  the  money  they  have  paid  for  the 
tickets,  deducting  only  the  expenses  for  the  two 
evenings. 

"  I  had  been  strongly  encouraged  to  give  this 
course  and  led  to  believe,  that  it  would  be  popular. 
But  I  am  aware  of  the  obstacles  arising  from  hard 
times,  more  attractive  entertainments,  &c.  The  sub- 
ject is  very  interesting  to  me,  particularly  as  the  his- 


550  LIFE   OP    CHARLES    POLLEN. 

tory  of  Switzerland  is  the  best  illustration  and  devel- 
opement  of  the  great  social  principles,  that  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  our  institutions. 

"  Eliza  received  to-day  a  letter  from  Catherine 
Sedgwick,  from  Berne,  full  of  interesting  particulars 
of  my  sister's  family,  to  whom  I  had  given  her  a 
letter  ;  and  some  descriptions  of  scenery,  that  reflect 
the  glowing  of  the  Alps. 

"  Your  friend, 

"C.    FOLLEN." 

Upon  inquiry,  Dr.  Follen  found,  that  he  would,  in 
any  case,  be  held  responsible  for  the  hall,  and  that  he 
could  not,  as  he  had  hoped,  exchange  it  for  one  less 
expensive  in  the  same  building.  His  lectures  were 
all  to  be  written  ;  the  labor  of  preparing  one  every 
week,  in  addition  to  his  other  occupations  and  duties, 
was  very  great ;  and  the  thought  of  making  this  effort, 
not  only  without  the  hope  of  profit,  but  with  the 
certainty  of  involving  himself  in  some  pecuniary  em- 
barrassment, was,  indeed,  discouraging.  It  must  also 
be  remembered,  that  he  had  depended  upon  the  pro- 
ceeds of  these  lectures  to  make  up  for  the  deficien- 
cies of  his  meagre  salary.  It  was  in  this  state  of 
feeling,  that  we  received  the  letter  he  alludes  to  in  his 
to  Dr.  Channing.  Miss  Sedgwick,  in  describing  the 
family  of  his  brother-in-law  to  me,  said,  "There  is 
first  the  sister  of  your  dear  husband,  having  his  good- 
ness in  her  face,  and  bearing  a  general  but  not  a  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  him.  She  is  hanging  over  a  chair, 
her  eyes  filled  with  tears,  asking  questions  of  Kate 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  551 

about  you  and  Charley,  and  saying  she  is  so  homesick 
to  see  him,  that  she  must  go  (if  he  will  not  come)  to 
America  with  all  her  family  to  see  him."  After  de- 
scribing the  rest  of  the  family,  she  adds,  "  How  I 
did  long  to  see  you  and  your  husband  and  Charley, 
among  friends  so  worthy  of  you,  so  suited  to  you  ! 
How  I  admired  and  loved  your  husband  for  sending 
out  his  affections  upon  us  strangers,  that  would  spon- 
taneously have  overflowed  upon  such  kindred.  How 
I  wondered  at  his  patience,  and,  forgive  me,  dear,  his 
contentment.  Certainly,  if  I  had  been  in  this  land,  I 
should  have  clung  to  it  as  an  unweaned  child  clings  to 
its  mother's  bosom." 

I  had  never  seen  my  husband  so  deeply  affected  by 
the  remembrance  of  his  family  and  early  home,  as  he 
was  at  reading  this  letter,  except  when  he  receiv- 
ed the  news  of  the  death  of  his  father.  His  long- 
suppressed  homesickness  seemed  to  revive  and  over- 
master him.  He  wept  at  the  remembrance  of  his 
father-land,  and  the  dear  ones  he  had  left  there, 
when  he  found  how  truly  they  loved  him  still.  After 
a  while,  he  said,  "  We  must  go  there  ;  —  we  will  go 
to  Switzerland." 

Our  friends  made  great  exertions  to  awaken  the 
attention  of  the  public  to  the  lectures  on  Switzer- 
land. When  Dr.  Follen  heard  of  one  who  had  taken 
four  family  tickets  upon  learning  that  the  expenses  of 
the  lectures  would  not  be  paid,  he  wrote  to  him,  that 
he  did  not  wish  him  to  take  any  tickets  that  he  could 
not  put  to  some  use,  and  he  resolved  to  meet  the  evil 
without  making  any  further  efforts  at  resistance.  He 


552  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

had  sent  some  tickets  to  friends  who  could  not  afford 
to  purchase  them,  and  the  next  evening  his  audience 
was  nearly  doubled,  but  still  was  not  large  enough  to 
defray  all  the  expenses.  "  Of  one  thing  I  am  certain," 
he  said  to  me,  "you  will  see  that  my  lectures  shall 
be  as  good  as  though  all  the  world  came  to  hear 
them."  On  one  day  only  I  saw  him  stop  from  his 
writing,  and  rest  his  head  between  his  hands  for  a  long 
time  upon  his  paper.  "  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  I  find  it  very  hard  to  write  with  spirit  under  such 
circumstances,"  he  replied.  We  always  returned  to 
Lexington  on  the  evening  of  the  lecture.  It  was  a  long 
way,  the  road  was  heavy,  and  the  weather  was  cold  ; 
and  it  was  dark  and  often  very  late  when  we  got  home. 
Usually  he  was  so  full  of  lively  conversation,  that  it 
seemed  neither  long  nor  dull  ;  but  one  night  he  was 
very  silent.  "  Why,"  I  asked,  "  are  you  so  silent 
to-night?"  "I  do  feel  this  disappointment,"  he 
replied ;  "  it  shows  me  how  little  I  have  to  hope  from 
public  favor  in  Boston."  "  Perhaps,"  I  said,  u  you 
have  made  a  mistake  in  your  subject.  People  now-a- 
days  prefer  speculations  to  facts  ;  let  us  consider  this 
merely  as  a  mode,  not  very  expensive,  of  seeing  our 
friends  once  a  week  ;  it  is  not,  after  all,  a  costly 
pleasure.  Your  history  of  Switzerland  will  be  writ- 
ten, and  will  be  a  valuable  possession."  "  That  is 
right,"  he  replied  ;  "  it  shall  be  so  ;  henceforward  we 
will  look  at  it  only  as  a  pleasant  visit  to  our  friends  ; 
it  is  a  good  thing  for  me  to  have  this  course  of  lec- 
tures written,  they  will  yet  be  of  use  to  me,  and  it 
is  pleasant  to  see  our  friends  once  a  week."  After- 


LIFE    OP    CHARLES    POLLEN.  553 

wards  he  spoke  of  various  subjects  for  lectures,  and 
finally  resolved  to  prepare  a  course  on  ./Esthetics. 
This,  he  said,  was  a  subject  to  which  he  had  given  his 
mind  much  in  early  life,  and  he  had  then  made  ex- 
tracts and  notes  from  valuable  works,  that  would  be 
important  to  him.  It  was  his  intention,  while  in 
Switzerland,  to  consult  his  eldest  brother,  and  obtain 
aid  from  him  for  this  purpose.  "  I  think,"  he  said, 
"  I  could  write  a  course  of  lectures  upon  this  sub- 
ject, that  might  be  worth  hearing,  and  the  Boston 
people,  perhaps,  would  be  interested  in  it  ;  I  wish  I 
had  thought  of  it  before."  So  ended  our  drive  home, 
the  only  time  when  he  seemed  dispirited  at  his  failure. 
One  day  when  he  was,  as  I  thought,  giving  his 
whole  mind  to  his  lecture,  I  noticed  him  writing  in  a 
book  in  which  he  kept  a  sort  of  diary.  "  What  are 
you  doing  ?"  I  asked.  "  Writing  something  that  has 
just  come  into  my  mind  for  my  '  Psychology.'  I 
never  forget  that.  As  soon  as  I  return  from  New 
York,  I  shall  give  my  whole  attention  to  it,  and  I 
hope  to  finish  it  this  winter."  This  was  one  of  his 
dearest  hopes. 

His  disappointment  was  no  more  spoken  of.  His 
pecuniary  loss  was  small.  Before  the  course  was 
finished,  he  received  two  invitations  to  deliver  it  at 
different  country  lyceums.  "  After  all,"  he  said, 
"  my  lectures  will  be  profitable."  No  one,  who  had 
seen  him  in  his  most  private  hours,  would  have 
known,  except  in  the  instances  I  have  mentioned,  that 
he  had  suffered  any  thing  from  this  entire  failure  of 
hopes,  which  he  had  cherished  through  the  whole 

VOL.  i.  47 


554  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

summer,  and  upon  the  success  of  which,  much  of  the 
personal  comfort  of  himself  and  his  family  depended. 
There  were  many  little  indulgences  that  we  had 
promised  ourselves  from  the  proceeds  of  the  lectures, 
which  we  had  to  forego  on  account  of  our  very 
narrow  income  ;  but  they  were  cheerfully  resigned, 
and  soon  forgotten.  Such  privations  for  himself,  nev- 
er caused  him  a  thought  of  pain  ;  but,  when  he  could 
not  give  every  thing  desirable  to  those  he  loved,  he 
really  suffered  ;  but,  even  that,  he  had  learned  to  bear 
with  the  utmost  sweetness.  Had  any  one  seen  him 
at  this  time  accompanying  his  little  boy  daily  to  school, 
they  would  not  have  doubted  whether  he  were  a  happy 
man.  The  school  was  two  miles  off,  and  the  weather 
at  times  very  cold,  and,  in  order  to  be  there  in  season, 
the  child  had  to  set  off  very  early.  His  father  would 
often  say  on  his  return,  "  I  know  not  what  the  vil- 
lagers will  think  of  me  ;  for  I  play  like  a  boy  with 
Charles  all  the  way  ;  I  allow  him  to  push  me  about 
and  do  as  he  will  with  me,  because  it  makes  him 
laugh,  and  keeps  up  his  spirits,  and  prevents  his  tak- 
ing cold."  He  did,  indeed,  enjoy  his  morning  sport 
as  much  as  Charles  did,  and  allowed  no  engagement 
ever  so  pressing  to  interfere  with  it. 

In  the  following  postscript  to  a  letter  to  Harriet 
Martineau,  he  makes  no  mention  of  his  disappoint- 
ment with  regard  to  his  lectures.  They  were  his 
last  words  to  this  dear  friend. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  555 

"  East  Lexington,  December  9/A,  1839. 
"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

"  I  cannot  let  this  letter  go  without  an  autograph  of 
my  affection.  As  I  am  just  finishing  my  last  lecture 
on  Switzerland,  which  I  am  to  deliver  this  evening,  I 
can  do  no  more  than  this.  Thank  you  for  the  sooth- 
ing and  inspiring  influence  of  your  cheerful  fortitude. 

"  Yours  ever  truly, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  Dr.  Follen  to 
find  that  the  church  would  not  be  finished  in  time  to 
be  dedicated  before  he  went  to  New  York  ;  it  was, 
therefore,  necessary  to  wait  till  his  return,  as  his  en- 
gagement there  could  not  be  postponed.  But,  in  or- 
der to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  people,  who  were  im- 
patient to  enter  their  new  church,  he  fixed  as  early  a 
period  as  possible,  after  the  conclusion  of  his  lectures 
in  New  York. 

Upon  the  question  as  to  who  should  be  invited  to 
assist  at  the  dedication  of  the  house,  after  much  dis- 
cussion among  the  committee  of  arrangements,  of 
which  Dr.  Follen  was  one,  it  was  finally  determined 
by  them  to  leave  it  entirely  to  him.  The  purpose  of 
his  heart  had  been,  from  the  first,  as  he  said  in  his 
letter  to  Dr.  Channing,  that  the  church  should  be  a 
truly  free  church,  that  all  who  wished  to  join  them 
should  be  admitted  to  it  ;  the  honest  skeptic,  who 
came  asking  what  was  truth,  and  the  narrow  bigot, 
who  believed  he  had  attained  to  all  religious  .knowl- 


r-1 


edge,  would   have  both  received  his  welcome.     The 


556          LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

desire  to  come  to  a  church  dedicated  to  religious  wor- 
ship, and  to  an  enlarged  Christian  philanthropy,  would 
have  been  a  sufficient  title  to  admission.  Among 
those  whom  he  requested  to  assist  at  the  dedication 
of  his  church,  were  a  Baptist,  a  Methodist,  and  a  Uni- 
versalist  clergyman  ;  among  the  Unitarians  were  the 
adherents  of  the  old  school,  and  the  teachers  of  the 
new  ;  and  he  looked  forward  with  great  pleasure  to  the 
friendly  meeting  of  these  different  elements  of  the 
Christian  church,  upon  the  common  ground  of  the 
recognition  of  the  bond  of  human  brotherhood,  and 
of  the  same  immortal  destiny. 

The  time  arrived  for  our  departure  for  New  York. 
Dr.  Follen  had,  in  consequence  of  many  pressing 
engagements,  left  himself  too  little  time  to  write  these 
letters  of  invitation.  We  were  to  start  for  New  York 
the  next  day,  and  most  of  them  were  still  to  be  writ- 
ten and  copied,  for  he  determined  to  take  copies  of 
them  all.  It  was  evening,  and  he  had  many  other 
things  to  do,  and  he  had  just  said,  "  I  must  be  in- 
dustrious, and  I  trust  I  shall  have  no  interruption,  or 
I  shall  not  accomplish  my  work,"  when  a  young  man 
entered,  who  had  walked  up  from  Cambridge  on  pur- 
pose to  see  him.  He  turned  from  his  own  affairs, 
and  devoted  himself  to  his  entertainment,  as  if  he  had 
no  other  occupation,  and  no  other  thought  in  his  mind, 
than  to  make  him  enjoy  himself.  After  he  left  us,  Dr. 
Follen  said,  "  That  visit  has  cost  me  more  than  I 
can  tell  ;  but  I  am  glad  to  have  contributed  something 
to  that  young  man's  pleasure  ;  I  hope  he  had  a  pleas- 
ant visit."  This  was  his  last  act  of  hospitality. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  557 

The  letters  of  invitation  show  his  views  with  re- 
gard to  the  church.  I  give  but  one,  as  the  others 
were  nearly  in  the  same  words,  and  altogether  in  the 
same  spirit. 

"  East  Lexington,  December  20th,  1839. 

"DEAR  SlR, 

"  The  religious  society  in  this  village,  of  which  I 
am  the  minister,  have  erected  a  church,  which  is  to 
be  dedicated  on  the  fifteenth  of  next  month.  The 
society  are  agreed,  that  they  will  recognise  as  fellow- 
Christians,  all  those,  of  whatever  denomination,  who 
profess  to  be  Christians,  and  whose  lives  attest  the 
sincerity  of  their  profession. 

"  They  are  desirous  that  the  dedication  of  this 
church  should  be  an  expression  of  the  principles  of 
Christian  freedom  and  universal  brotherhood  ;  and  the 
committee  appointed  to  make  preparations  for  the  so- 
lemnities of  the  occasion,  have  requested  me,  accord- 
ing to  my  discretion,  to  ask  the  aid  of  a  number  of 
clergymen,  who  recognise  the  same  principles  of  re- 
ligious freedom  and  philanthropy,  and  who  are  willing 
to  exchange  with  the  minister  of  this  society. 

"  I  am  persuaded,  that  I  shall  carry  into  effect  the 
views  of  the  society,  as  well  as  my  own,  most  fully, 
by  addressing  invitations  not  only  to  some  of  those 
clergymen  who  agree  with  me  on  certain  points  of 
controversial  theology,  but  to  ministers  of  different 
denominations,  who  are  disposed  to  lay  aside  their 
sectarian  predilections,  and  meet  as  fellow-laborers  in 
the  cause  of  moral  and  religious  progress. 
47* 


558  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

"  I  am  not  personally  acquainted  with  you,  dear 
Sir  ;  but  from  the  opinion  of  some  friends  on  whose 
judgment  I  rely,  I  feel  myself  justified  in  asking  you, 
if  your  principles  of  Christian  fellowship  agree  with 
those  of  the  society  with  whom  I  am  connected,  to 
take  a  part  in  the  exercises  of  the  dedication  of  their 
church,  either  by  offering  a  prayer  or  reading  a  hymn. 

"  Will  you  please  to  let  me  have  an  answer  as  soon 
as  convenient,  and  direct  it  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Cabot,  Boston. 

"  Yours  respectfully, 

"C.  FOLLEN. 

"  REV.  MR.  SKINNER." 

Dr.  Follen  had  fixed  upon  Monday,  the  23d  of 
December,  for  his  departure.  He  performed,  in  the 
morning,  the  marriage  service  for  a  young  couple  in 
his  society,  who  were  to  accompany  us  on  our  jour- 
ney to  New  York.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  affec- 
tionate fervor  of  his  manner,  and  of  his  words,  upon 
this  occasion  ;  he  poured  forth  his  soul  with  a  sub- 
lime and  touching  pathos  such  as  I  had  never  before 
heard,  even  from  him.  I  asked  him,  after  the  ceremony 
was  over,  if  he  knew  how  well  he  had  spoken.  He 
was  quite  unconscious  of  it.  "  I  know  not,"  he  re- 
plied, "  a  word  of  what  I  have  said.  Did  I  do  well?  " 
He  wist  not  that  his  face  shone.  He  dwelt  most 
earnestly  and  particularly,  in  his  exhortation,  upon  the 
importance  of  truth,  transparent  truth,  in  this  intimate 
and  holy  union  ;  he  prayed  that  they  who  were  forming 
it  might  remember,  that  they  were  accountable,  as  far 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  559 

as  their  efforts  could  reach,  for  each  other's  virtue,  as 
well  as  for  each  other's  happiness  ;  that  it  depended 
upon  themselves  whether  the  tie  they  now  formed 
should  be  merely  temporal  and  earthly,  or  whether 
it  should  be  a  spiritual  union  for  all  eternity. 

The  weather  was  so  stormy,  that  we  could  not  start 
that  day  ;  the  next  we  decided  against,  because  it  was 
the  day  that  the  steamboat  Lexington  went,  and  we 
then  considered  her  an  unsafe  boat ;  so  that  we  did 
not  leave  till  Wednesday,  which  was  Christmas  day. 
This  day  we  had  hoped  to  pass  with  our  friends  in 
New  York.  The  weather  was  fine,  and  we  set  off 
in  excellent  spirits.  Our  house  had  been  very  com- 
fortably fitted  up  for  the  winter  ;  the  evening  be- 
fore we  left  it,  my  husband  said,  as  he  was  walking 
backwards  and  forwards  in  our  pleasant  parlour, 
"  Let  us  meet  with  whatever  pleasures  we  may  in 
New  York,  shall  we  not  rejoice  to  get  back  to  our 
own  home  ?  "  While  we  were  waiting  in  Boston  for 
the  hour  when  the  cars  should  start,  Dr.  Follen  visit- 
ed Mr.  Garrison,  and  urged  him  to  gratify  a  few 
friends  in  Lexington,  who  wished  him  to  lecture  there. 
Some  of  our  friends  disliked  our  travelling  in  winter, 
and  were  depressed  at  our  leaving  them  ;  but  we  had 
no  fears,  and  were  already  anticipating  our  happy  re- 
turn. One  of  the  last  things  that  my  husband  said  to 
my  sister  was,  "  If  you  hear  that  any  thing  has  hap- 
pened to  the  Lexington,  you  may  be  sure  that  we  are 
not  in  her." 

When  we  arrived  at  Stonington,  we  found,  that, 
although  another  boat  was  advertised,  and  tickets 


560  LIFE  'OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

given  out  for  her,  it  was  the  Lexington  that  was  going. 
Charles  started  back,  and  said,  "Don't  let  us  go,  let 
us  stay  here  ;  "  but  it  was  impossible,  and  with  real 
fear  and  trembling  we  entered.  Some  one  on  board 
the  boat  said,  that  she  had  been  thoroughly  repaired, 
and  was  now  a  perfectly  safe  boat,  and  that  there  was 
nothing  to  fear.  No  one  told  us,  that  she  had  been 
repeatedly  on  fire.  We  had  a  good  passage,  and 
without  any  disturbance  arrived  safe  at  New  York. 
Our  friends  gave  us  the  kindest  welcome,  and  never 
did  happier  hearts  beat  than  ours.  The  next  day  Dr. 
Follen  was  to  commence  his  course  of  lectures.  The 
first  lecture  required  much  preparation,  as  it  was  to 
give  a  general  view  of  German  literature,  previous  to 
his  account  of  Schiller.  In  his  travelling-bag  was  a 
book,  which  was  essential  to  him  for  the  preparation 
of  his  lecture,  and  just  after  we  arrived  we  found  it  was 
missing.  Instead  of  immediately  devoting  himself 
to  his  lecture,  Dr.  Follen  had  to  spend  all  his  time 
in  efforts  to  recover  the  bag,  and,  finally,  to  relinquish 
all  hope  of  obtaining  it  in  season  for  his  lecture. 
The  next  morning  he  sat  down  to  his  work,  troubled 
and  perplexed  how  to  proceed,  and  fearing  that  he 
should  fail  in  consequence  of  his  loss  ;  in  addition  to 
this,  it  began  to  storm,  and  he  feared  he  should  have 
no  audience  on  account  of  the  weather.  His  patience 
and  sweetness,  however,  did  not  fail.  "  It  does 
seem,"  he  said  calmly,  "  as  if  all  things  went  against 
me."  But  he  spoke  as  if  he  was  merely  mentioning 
a  fact ;  not  a  fretful  word  passed  his  lips.  His  bag, 
that  had -been  advertised,  was  brought  in  just  after- 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  561 

wards,  and  his  lecture  was  prepared  in  season.  He 
went  in  the  storm,  and,  as  he  anticipated,  there  was 
a  very  small  audience,  but  the  directors  immediately 
determined  to  request  hirrrto  postpone  his  lecture  till 
the  next  Monday,  and  he  returned  with  his  mind  at 
ease,  for  he  had  felt  far  more  anxiety  upon  the  sub- 
ject here  than  he  did  in  Boston,  inasmuch  as  he  would 
have  suffered  more  at  causing  others  to  lose  money 
than  at  losing  it  himself.  Every  one  assured  him, 
that  but  for  the  bad  weather  the  hall  would  have  been 
full.  Every  thing  now  seemed  happy  and  prosperous  ; 
friends  came  to  welcome  us,  and  we  employed  our- 
selves in  laying  out  our  time  so  as  to  secure  the 
greatest  amount  of  enjoyment.  "  We  have  come  to 
be  merry  ; "  said  Dr.  Follen,  "  we  are  like  children 
out  of  school,  and  have  come  to  pass  our  holydays 
with  you,  and  mean  to  get  all  the  pleasure  we  can.", 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spring,  at  whose  house  we  were,  in- 
vited all  our  friends  to  come  the  next  evening  to  bid  us 
welcome  to  New  York.  All  looked  bright  and  prom- 
ising. But  the  next  morning  the  scene  was  changed. 
I  was  seized  with  a  very  severe  illness,  and,  when  our 
friends  came  to  see  us  in  the  evening,  I  was  in  bed, 
suffering  excruciating  pain.  I  insisted  upon  Dr. 
Follen's  remaining  down  stairs  to  see  our  friends,  but 
he  had  the  heavy  weight  at  his  heart  of  knowing  that 
I  was  suffering  severely,  and  was  perhaps  wanting  his 
aid.  My  illness  increased  to  an  alarming  extent,  and 
from  this  time,  for  some  days,  his  anxiety  was  great. 
All  the  time,  day  and  night,  he  was  employed  in  nurs- 
ing me,  except  what  was  barely  necessary  to  prepare 


562  LIFE   OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

for  and  deliver  his  lectures.  He  saw  no  one,  he  did 
nothing  but  minister  to  my  wants,  and  try  if  he  could 
relieve,  or  at  least  help  me  to  bear,  my  pain.  His  lec- 
tures were  written,  so  that  all  that  was  necessary  was 
to  read  his  manuscript  very  carefully  before  he  de- 
livered them  ;  this  he  did  by  my  bedside,  and,  the 
moment  the  lecture  was  over,  he  was  there  again. 
He  got  very  little  sleep,  but  he  would  not  leave  me. 
His  lectures  were  very  successful ;  every  evening  the 
audience  was  larger  than  the  last.  He  said,  as  he 
returned  the  first  evening,  "  I  know  you  are  not  so 
ill  that  you  will  not  rejoice  to  hear  of  my  success.  I 
am  entirely  satisfied  with  my  audience.  If  you  were 
well,  how  pleasant  every  thing  would  be  ! " 

He  must  have  suffered  great  fatigue,  but  he  would 
not  acknowledge  it.  One  night,  it  was  New  Year's 
eve,  he  went  out  twice  in  the  night  for  the  physician ; 
the  weather  was  severe,  and  the  streets  were  full  of 
revellers,  making  frightful  noises  ; —  I  feared  almost 
for  his  life.  Next  to  our  friend's  house  was  a  large 
dancing  hall,  in  which  there  were  loud  music  and 
dancing  all  night ;  the  lights  in  my  sick  room  attracted 
the  attention  of  some  rioters  in  the  street  ;  they  stop- 
ped under  the  window  and  screamed,  "  Happy  New 
Year  !  "  with  what  seemed  to  me  the  voices  of  fiends, 
the  sound  was  so  frightful.  Such  a  "  happy  New 
Year,"  I  said,  sounds  ominous  of  evil.  In  the  midst 
of  this  confusion  and  noise,  while  my  soul  was  dis- 
turbed with  bodily  and  mental  suffering,  he  entered, 
calm  and  serene  as  ever,  looking  as  if  none  of  the 
elements  of  evil  had  power  over  him.  The  cold  had 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  563 

not  chilled  him,  the  tumult  had  not  disturbed  him, 
fatigue  and  anxiety  had  not  subdued  him,  love  and 
peace  beamed  from  his  hope-inspiring  eye.  He  had 
not  found  the  physician,  and  this  was  all  that  troubled 
him. 

New  Year's  day  came,  and,  as  usual  in  New  York, 
there  was  all  day  a  succession  of  visiters  to  the  lady  of 
the  house  ;  but,  although  many  came,  whom  my  hus- 
band would  have  liked  to  see,  and  I  urged  him  to  leave 
roe,  he  passed  the  day,  as  he  had  the  night,  in  efforts 
to  relieve  my  sufferings,  or,  by  his  inspiring  presence, 
to  enable  me  to  bear  them.  Once  only  he  left  me,  it 
was  to  get  a  New  Year's  gift  for  his  boy.  He  brought 
him  home  a  beautiful  little  box.  "  I  knew,"  he  said, 
"  that  you  would  wish  Charles  to  have  something 
pretty  for  New  Year's  day."  He  then  took  out  an 
inkstand  made  of  the  wood  of  the  cocoa-nut  tree.  "  I 
wanted  an  inkstand,  while  I  am  here,  all  to  myself," 
he  said,  "  and  see  how  pretty  this  is.  But  I  have 
no  New  Year's  gift  for  you  ;  it  is  a  shame."  I  re- 
plied, that  the  inkstand  should  be  my  New  Year's 
gift,  since,  when  we  returned,  he  would  not  want  it, 
as  he  would  have  his  own.  This  pleased  him  much, 
and  he  promised  to  give  it  to  me.  Our  friend,  Mrs. 
Spring,  thought  it  pretty,  and  the  next  time  he  went 
out  he  got  one  for  her.  This  anecdote  is,  indeed, 
a  trifle,  but  it  shows  his  constant  attention  to  all  the 
minor  pleasures  of  life,  his  ever  active  perception 
and  love  of  beauty,  even  in  trifles,  under  all  circum- 
stances, and  at  times  when  most  people  would  be 
too  much  absorbed  in  more  important  interests,  to 


564         LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

be  able  to  think  of  such  things.  But  it  was  not 
so  with  him.  He  ever  saw  the  little  in  the  great, 
and  the  great  in  the  little.  He  thought  no  duty  too 
small,  and  none  too  arduous. 

I  soon  began  to  recover,  but  it  was  evident  I 
should  not  be  able  to  return  to  Lexington  by  the 
15th,  the  time  appointed  for  the  dedication.  Dr. 
Follen  therefore  determined  to  write  to  the  com- 
mittee, stating  the  case,  and  requesting  them  to  post- 
pone the  dedication  for  one  week,  when  he  hoped 
I  might  be  able  to  accompany  him. 

The  following  passages  from  his  letters  to  my 
sister  during  my  illness,  will  have  a  melancholy 
interest. 

"  December  31st.  Eliza's  illness  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  stay  a  week  or  two  longer  in  New  York. 
I  shall  write  to  the  Lexington  people  to-morrow, 
to  beg  them  to  postpone  the  dedication.  My  lec- 
ture was  well  attended." 

"  January  2d,  1840.  I  shall  write  to  the  Lexing- 
ton people  to-morrow,  appointing  January  22d,  in- 
stead of  the  15th,  for  the  dedication.  If  Eliza  should 
then  not  be  strong  enough  to  undertake  the  journey, 
1  shall  return,  and  leave  her  at  Chancellor  M'Coun's." 

"  January  4th.  I  have  written  to  Lexington,  as 
I  told  you  ;  I  shall  have  an  answer,  I  hope,  in  a  few 
days.  My  lectures  are  quite  popular.  We  have  not 
received  a  letter  since  I  wrote  of  Eliza's  illness. 
Your  last  was  your  hearty  and  most  welcome  wish 
of  a  happy  New  Year.  It  came  at  a  time  of  great 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  565 

anxiety  with  regard  to  the  future,  when  wishes  were 
precious,  as  the  causes  of  hope  were  few.  Eliza  will 
add  a  line,  and  this  will  be  better  than  all  I  can  say." 

"  January  7th.  Last  night  I  had  the  largest  au- 
dience for  my  lecture.  I  lecture  for  one  hour  and  a 
half,  and  my  course  is  quite  popular.  I  have  hardly 
seen  anybody,  but  found  my  best  happiness  in  the 
sick  chamber.  But  I  shall  go  out  to-morrow,  and 
return  some  of  the  many  visits  we  have  received. 

"  Our  best  love  to  you  all. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"C.  FOLLEN." 

I  give  also  a  copy  of  his  letter  to  the  committee, 
requesting  a  postponement  of  the  dedication. 

"  JVew  York,  January  3d,  J840. 
"  DEAR  SIR, 

"  We  arrived  here  on  Friday  the  26th,  after  a 
pleasant  journey.  On  Friday  Mrs.  Follen  was  taken 
ill,  and  her  sickness  grew  more  and  more  alarming. 
It  is  only  since  yesterday  that  her  physician  has 
pronounced  her  out  of  danger  ;  but  it  will  take  her  a 
fortnight,  at  least,  before  she  may  venture  to  return. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  I  should  be  very  glad 
if  our  friends  at  East  Lexington  would  consent  to  put 
off  the  dedication  one  week,  to  Wednesday,  the  22d 
of  this  month.  It  will  not  be  in  my  power  to  return 
with  Mrs.  Follen  by  the  15th  ;  but  if  our  friends 
should  think  it  decidedly  for  the  interest  of  our 
church,  that  the  dedication  should  not  be  delayed, 

VOL.  i.  48 


566         LIFE  OF  CHARLES  POLLEN. 

I  will  return  alone.  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  lay 
this  matter  before  the  committee,  consisting  of  Deacon 
D.  Wellington,  Mr.  J.  Brown,  Mr.  B.  Smith,  and 
Mr.  Morell,  who  were  charged,  together  with  myself, 
to  provide  for  the  services  of  the  dedication.  If  you 
should  be  able  to  see  them  on  the  day  on  which  you 
receive  this  letter,  and  let  me  know  their  decision 
by  return  of  mail,  I  should  be  obliged  to  you.  I, 
of  course,  hoH  myself  bound  to  return  before  the 
15th,  if  they  should  think  it  best  to  abide  by  our  for- 
mer decision. 

"  I  must  close,  in  order  to  be  in  time  for  the  mail. 
I  shall  bring  the  printed  bills  for  the  dedication  with 
me.  Please  to  remember  me  kindly  to  Mrs.  Adams, 
and  all  our  friends  at  East  Lexington. 

"  Your  friend, 

"C.    FOLLEN. 

"  Please  to  let  Mrs.  N know  that  Mrs.  Follen 

is  past  all  danger,  and  getting  well."  * 

Dr.  Follen  did  not,  as  was  his  usual  custom,  show 
me  the  letter  he  wrote  to  the  committee  of  his  church 
at  Lexington  ;  but  he  told  me  what  he  had  said  to 
them.  I  exclaimed,  with  a  pang  of  disappointment, 
"  I  am  very  sorry  you  left  it  for  them  to  decide  ; 
they  may  think  more  of  their  own  wishes  than  of 
yours." 

"  O  no,"  he  replied  ;  "  they  will,,  I  know,  grant 
my  request,  and  then  it  will  be  so  much  more  agree- 
able to  me  to  remain  than  if  I  decided  the  matter  for 

*  Mrs.  N was  our  cook,  for  whom  he  had  a  great  regard. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  567 

myself.  Don't  you  be  troubled  ;  if  you  are  not  much 
better  I  shall  not  go  at  any  rate  ;  and  I  a'm  sure  they 
will  put  off  the  Dedication  for  a  week,  for  they  will 
want  you  to  be  there."  "  I  wish  you  would  write 
again,"  said  I,  "  and  tell  them  you  cannot  come  at 
that  time."  He  thought  it  best  not  to  do  so.  The 
friends  from  Lexington,  who  came  with  us,  called  to 
see  us  before  their  return.  I  urged  him  to  send  word 
by  them,  that  he  should  positively  not  be  there  on 
the  15th,  but  he  still  rested  it  upon  the  same  con- 
dition, though  he  expressed  to  them  his  earnest  hope 
that  they  would  grant  his  request.  "  I  know  they 
will,"  was  his  constant  answer.  One  of  the  objects 
of  the  visits  of  these  friends,  was  to  ask  his  opinion 
of  the  safety  of  the  Lexington.  He  told  them  he 
had  inquired,  and  was  informed  it  was  a  perfectly  safe 
boat,  and  he  should  not  hesitate  to  go  in  it  himself. 

Alas,  my  foreboding  heart !  From  this  moment  I 
was  miserable  for  fear  that  they  would  not  grant  his 
request.  But  he,  O  how  happy  he  was  !  He  saw 
me  getting  stronger  every  day,  his  lectures  gave  great 
pleasure,  he  attributed  my  low  spirits  to  the  effects 
of  disease,  and  he  was  as  gay  and  as  happy  as  a 
child. 

I  was  soon  so  far  recovered,  that  it  was  safe  for 
me  to  be  removed  to  Chancellor  M'Coun's,  where 
we  had  promised  to  pass  part  of  our  time  in  New 
York.  We  went  there  on  the  9th  of  January.  I 
was  still  very  weak,  and  the  effort  was  difficult ;  but 
the  change  did  me  good,  and  all  anxiety  about  me 
was  superfluous.  Dr.  Follen  was  now  able  to  see 


568  LIFE    OP    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

his  friends  with  a  free  mind  and  a  light  and  happy 
heart.  There  was  an  almost  irrepressible  joy  in  his 
every  tone  and  motion.  The  next  day,  Friday,  the 
10th,  he  was  to  deliver  his  last  lecture.  It  was 
on  "  William  Tell."  As  he  was  reading  it,  he 
spoke  feelingly  of  the  power  this  play  had  over  him. 
"  I  hope,"  he  said,  "  that  I  shall  be  able  to  do 
justice  to  it,  but  it  always  overmasters  me.  I  have 
to  harden  my  feelings  beforehand,  in  order  to  be 
able  to  read  it  ;  it  almost  chokes  me,  some  part  of  it. 
I  want  every  thing  quiet  while  I  prepare  myself  for 
this  evening.  In  this  my  last  lecture,  I  wish  to  say  a 
few  words  to  the  young  men,  that  they  will  remember. 
I  want  to  wake  in  them  some  noble  thoughts  and  pur- 
poses, that  shall  not  pass  away."  While  he  was  speak- 
ing, a  letter  from  Lexington  was  handed  to  him,  say- 
ing, that  for  various  reasons  the  committee  could  not 
accede  to  his  wishes,  and  that  they  thought  the  inter- 
ests of  the  society  required  that  the  church  should  be 
dedicated  on  the  day  already  appointed.  As  Dr. 
Follen  read  the  letter  the  blood  rushed  violently  to 
his  face,  so  as  I  had  scarcely  ever  seen  it.  "  I  did  not 
expect  this,"  he  said  ;  "  I  thought  they  would  gladly 
grant  my  request.  I  thought  they  would  not  wish 
the  house  dedicated  till  you  could  come." 

A  prophetic  pang  of  agony  entered  my  heart  as  I 
heard  the  contents  of  the  letter.  I  groaned,  and 
almost  fell  to  the  ground  ;  and  I  kept  crying  out, 
"  Don't  go  !  don't  go  !  It  is  not  right  that  you  should 
go."  He  waited  till  I  was  silent,  and  then  said, 
"  Eliza,  this  is  not  you.  You  are  not  in  your  right 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  569 

mind.  I  have  promised  to  go  if  they  insist  upon  it. 
Would  you  have  me  break  my  word  ?  You  are  out 
of  all  danger  ;  I  leave  you  with  kind  friends  ;  you 
will  soon  be  well.  It  is  only  my  personal  inconven- 
ience and  discomfort  ;  what  is  it  after  all  ?  I  shall 
soon  be  back  again."  I  could  not  be  comforted. 
"  It  is,"  I  said,  "  a  wanton  waste  of  your  time, 
your  strength,  your  comfort."  "  I  know  it,  and  I 
am  deeply  disappointed  ;  but  I  must  do  my  duty  to 
them,  although  they  have  disregarded  my  wishes.  I 
only  wish  I  had  not  received  the  letter  till  I  had 
delivered  my  lecture."  He  said  no  more,  but  re- 
turned to  his  manuscript,  which  he  had  been  reading. 
I  was  silent.  Presently  he  came  to  me,  and  said, 
"  Help  me,  Eliza,  to  bear  this."  I  promised  him 
I  would.  I  saw  that  he  considered  it  an  unquestioned 
duty,  and  I  no  longer  opposed  his  determination  to 
go.  He  spoke  no  more,  at  this  time,  of  the  letter, 
or  of  his  disappointment,  but  gave  his  whole  mind  to 
his  present  duty.  A  few  moments  afterward,  he  told 
me  of  his  plan  with  regard  to  the  conclusion  of  his 
lecture  ;  he  said,  he  should  not  write  it,  he  would 
rather  trust  to  the  excitement  of  the  moment.  "  I 
shall  conclude,"  said  he,  "  with  the  advice  of  the 
Marquis  of  Posa  to  Carlos."  He  returned  home 
full  of  peace  and  joy.  He  said  to  me,  with  more 
than  his  usual  animation,  "  I  have  satisfied  myself;  I 
succeeded  in  casting  away  all  my  selfish  cares,  and 
I  really  hope  that  I  have  said  some  things  to  the 
young  men  that  they  will  not  forget.  What  a  pleasure 
this  course  of  lectures  has  been  to  me  ;  and,  now  that 
48* 


570  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

you  are  getting  well,  all  would  be  so  happy  if  the 
people  in  Lexington  had  granted  my  request,  or  if  I 
were  only  satisfied  with  the  reasons  they  give  for  not 
doing  so  ;  if  it  were  quite  right  I  should  go,  I  should 
think  nothing  of  the  sacrifice.  But  my  word  must 
be  kept,  and  we  must  submit.  Now  for  my  dedica- 
tion sermon  ;  I  must  talk  it  out  to  you  first.  Let  us 
speak  no  more  of  this  letter."  I  promised  to  be 
silent,  and  I  was  so.  I  saw  that  it  was  the  same  spir- 
it that  had  actuated  his  whole  life,  which  influenced 
him  then,  —  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  He  held  no 
parley  with  his  own  wishes,  he  made  no  calculations 
of  his  own  interests,  when  what  he  considered  right 
was  in  question. 

It  seems,  indeed,  a  small  thing,  in  itself,  his  sub- 
mission to  the  decision  of  the  people  of  Lexington  ; 
but  the  same  divine  forgetfulness  of  self,  and  devo- 
tion to  his  fellow-men,  inspired  him  then,  which  had . 
banished  him  from  his  father-land,  which  had  kept 
him  a  poor  man  in  this  country,  and  which  would, 
had  there  been  a  just  call  for  it,  have  led  him  as 
calmly  and  as  firmly  to  a  voluntary  sacrifice  of  his 
life. 

The  next  day  was  Saturday  ;  he  must  go  on  Mon- 
day ;  not  a  word  of  his  dedication  sermon  was  writ- 
ten ;  he  had  lectured  three  times  a  week  during  his 
stay  in  New  York  ;  he  had  gone  through  incredible 
fatigue  in  his  care  of  me  ;  and  now  he  had  to  devote 
every  moment  of  his  remaining  time  to  writing  the  ser- 
mon. He  made  no  complaint,  he  wasted  no  time  in 
useless  regrets,  he  addressed  himself  to  his  work  with 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN.  571 

an  energy  as  fresh  as  though  he  had  been  only  resting 
from  labor  ;  he  put  aside  all  that  would  interfere  with 
his  present  duty,  and  sat  down  to  his  task  with  a  face 
beaming  with  hope  and  cheerful  courage.  He  found 
that  all  our  friends  in  New  York  severely  censured 
the  people  of  Lexington  for  their  disregard  of  his 
comfort  and  wishes,  in  obliging  him  to  make  two  jour- 
neys in  mid-winter,  for  the  sake  of  dedicating  their 
church  a  week  sooner.  But  he  tried  to  excuse  them, 
saying,  they  thought  that  the  said  of  their  pews  might 
be  affected  by  it,  and  thej/Overe  poor  ;  and,  when 
some  persons  told  him  he  ought  not  to  go,  they  felt 
rebuked  by  his  simple  and  earnest  declaration,  that 
no  fault  in  others  exonerated  him  from  the  faithful 
performance  of  his  duty  ;  they  depended  on  his  prom- 
ise, and  he  must  fulfil  it.  He  had  intended  to 
preach  for  Mr.  Holland,  in  Brooklyn,  but  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  employ  the  Sunday  in  preparing  his 
sermon.  We  had  many  friends,  who  came  up  into 
my  chamber,  where  he  was  writing,  but  he  said  it  did 
not  disturb  him  ;  he  looked,  as  he  sat  at  his  writing- 
table,  with  his  mind  full  of  his  subject,  as  if  nothing 
on  this  earth  could  disturb  him,  and  it  was  so.  "  His 
heart  was  fixed." 

Occasionally,  when  he  was  wearied  with  writing, 
he  would  \a\k  with  me  of  his  plans  for  the  coming 
spring.  He  was  decided  to  go  to  Europe.  His  soul 
was  full  of  the  thought  of  a  visit  to  Switzerland,  and 
he  began  to  long,  with  a  homesick  heart,  to  see  his 
family  once  more.  My  depression  at  his  leaving  me 
was  unconquerable,  but  I  did  not  speak  of  it ;  for  I  had 


572  LIFE    OF    CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

promised  him  to  help  him  bear  his  trial,  and  I  kept 
my  word.  It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  him  ; 
but  I  saw  that  he  considered  it  an  unquestionable 
duty,  and  I  subdued  myself  to  silence.  He  perceived 
what  I  felt,  and  he  tried  to  raise  my  spirits  by  talking 
of  Switzerland,  and  the  glorious  things  in  Europe, 
which  he  should  shbwsme.  "  Think,"  said  he, 
"  how  we  shall  enjoy  seeing  the  Alps  together." 
He  tried  to  persuade  himself,  that  it  was  better  that 
he  should  go  and  dedicate  the  church  first,  and  then 
return,  because  it  would  allow  us  more  time  to  remain 
in  New  York.  He  had  promised  to  deliver  a  lec- 
ture on  Gothe's  "  Faust,"  when  he  returned  ;  and  he 
wanted  much  time  for  the  preparation  of  this.  It  had 
always  been  his  wish  to  give  his  views  fully  upon  the 
character  of  Gothe  and  of  his  writings.  He  had  felt 
bound,  in  one  or  two  instances,  to  give  his  testimony 
to  the  heartless  licentiousness  of  his  conduct  in  some 
particulars,  which  he  said  he  knew  from  unquestioned 
authority.  His  own  heart  turned  away  instinctively 
from  a  man  who  had  shown  no  sympathy  with  the 
struggles  for  freedom,  either  in  his  own,  or  other 
lands  ;  from  one,  whom  he  thought  deficient  in  a  true 
moral  enthusiasm.  Still,  he  saw  and  felt  Gothe's 
genius,  he  acknowledged  his  great  intellect,  and  he 
honored  his  faithful  industry  and  devotion  to  literary 
pursuits  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life.  He  would 
have  put  his  best  efforts  into  his  criticism  of  "Faust," 
and  have  been  just  to  the  great  powers,  as  well  as  the 
great  faults,  of  this  remarkable  man.  One  of  his  last 
acts  was  to  ask  a  friend  to  engage  the  hall  for  him  to 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  573 

deliver  his  lecture  in,  when  he  should  return  from  Lex- 
ington. "  After  all,"  said  he,  "  we  shall  not  be  disap- 
pointed in  the  pleasure  we  expected  from  our  visit  to 
New  York.  Dr.  V says  your  health  will  be  bet- 
ter than  it  has  been  for  years  ;  my  lectures  have  been 
very  successful ;  let  us  not  consider  it  an  evil  that  I 
have  to  go  to  Lexington."  "  I  cannot,'-  said  I,  "  but 
view  it  so  ;  it  is  a  wanton  waste  of  your  strength  and 
comfort."  "  It  is  true,  and  yet  I  am  not  so  much  dis- 
pleased at  that,  as  that  the  people  are  willing  to  have 
the  dedication  without  you,  who  have  labored  for 
them  all  summer  as  truly  and  as  faithfully  as  I  have." 
"  That,"  said  I,  "  is  an  insignificant  thing  ;  but  your 
wishes  and  your  rights  should  have  been  held  sacred." 
I  have  unwillingly  mentioned  this  expression  of  his 
feelings  ;  but  it  is  an  illustration  of  his  character,  thus 
thinking,  to  the  very  last,  in  all  things,  more  of  others 
than  of  himself,  and  therefore  I  have  felt  bound  to 
give  it. 

The  act  of  the  committee  of  the  church  at  Lexing- 
ton should  be  judged  exactly  as  if  no  such  irreparable 
evil  had  been  its  result.  So  he  himself  would  have 
judged,  who  was  the  victim  of  their  error  ;  for  his 
benevolence  was,  to  use  his  own  words,  but  an  "  en- 
larged sense  of  justice."  The  act  was  unjust,  it  was 
unkind,  but  not  intentionally  so  ;  they  would  rather 
their  church  should  have  been  burned  to  the  ground, 
than  that  the  slightest  harm  should  have  come  to  him, 
whom  they  loved  and  honored.  But  they  thought 
only  of  themselves,  of  their  own  wishes,  and  what 
they  supposed  would  be  their  own  interests.  Who  can 


574  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

ever  compute  the  extent  of  the  evil  effects  of  a  single 
selfish  act  ? 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  Dr.  Pollen  rose  very 
early,  that  he  might  have  time  to  finish  his  sermon. 
At  breakfast  he  talked  much  to  our  friends  of  his 
intended  visit  to  Switzerland.  He  described  to  them 
the  glowing  of  the  Alps,  the  gradual  progress  of  the 
light  from  the  far  distant  heights  to  the  nearer  ones, 
and  finally  to  the  valleys.  He  compared  it  to  the 
light  of  history,  faint  and  dubious  upon  the  most  dis- 
tant eminences,  and  growing  brighter  and  clearer  as 
it  approached  nearer,  till  its  broad  beams  were  all 
around  us.  I  was  not  present,  for  I  was  still  too  ill 
to  breakfast  with  the  family,  but  my  friends  repeated 
the  conversation  to  me  ;  he  had  often  described  this 
scene  to  me,  and  spoke  of  our  seeing  it  together. 
When  he  came  up  stairs,  he  said,  I  have  been  talking 
of  Switzerland,  where  we  shall  be  next  summer  ;  he 
spoke  again  of  the  pleasure  his  course  of  lectures  in 
New  York  had  given  him.  He  said,  that  his  ex- 
perience in  Boston  had  produced  a  degree  of  appre- 
hension with  regard  to  his  success  anywhere,  so  that 
his  reception  in  New  York  had  been  very  gratifying 
to  him  ;  he  spoke  of  his  pleasure  at  the  cordial  and 
delicately  kind  treatment  he  had  received  from  the 
young  men.  They  had,  as  was  their  custom  in  the 
case  of  other  lecturers,  sent  a  carriage  to  take  him 
to  and  from  the  hall,  and  requested  him  to  give  tick- 
ets to  all  his  friends  ;  but,  when  he  had  removed  from 
Mr.  Spring's  to  Mr.  M'Coun's,  they  had  asked  him  if 
he  would  not  still  like  to  send  the  carriage  for  those 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  POLLEN.         575 

friends  whom  he  had  taken  with  him  while  he  was  at 
their  house.  Such  a  little  delicate  attention  as  this 
went  to  his  heart  ;  he  spoke  of  it  repeatedly.  He 
took  out  of  his  pocket  the  check  for  three  hundred 
dollars,  which  they  had  sent  him,  and  showing  it  to 
me,  he  said,  "  Do  you  know  I  never  took  so  much 
pleasure  from  three  hundred  dollars  in  my  life  ? 
Come,  I  want  you  to  enjoy  it  too  ;  you  don't  seem 
as  pleased  with  it  as  you  ought  to  be."  "  I  can  only 
think,"  I  replied,  "  that  you  are  going  away." 

He  had  promised  not  to  go  if  the  weather  was  bad ; 
the  morning  was  cloudy,  but  alas,  the  clouds  passed 
away,  and  the  weather  became  mild  and  pleasant. 
He  had  satisfied  his  mind  from  inquiry,  that  the  Lex- 
ington was  a  safe  boat ;  had  he  known  that  she  had 
been  often  on  fire,  nothing  would  have  tempted  him 
to  go  in  her.  He  loved  life  ;  he  thought  it  wrong  to 
put  it  to  any  unnecessary  hazard.  The  merit  of  the 
martyr,  he  often  said,  consisted  in  deliberately  giving 
up  what  was  greatly  valuable,  and  what  he  highly 
prized,  for  what  he  considered  more  precious.  He 
attached  great  importance  to  the  efforts  of  every  indi- 
vidual man  in  a  good  cause.  When  he  heard  any 
one  say,  "  Providence  will  take  care  of  .these  things, 
men  can  do  nothing,"  he  would  reply,  "  Providence 
commands  MS  to  do  the  work  ;  you,  and  I,  and  others, 
are  to  do  it."  He  had  grown  more  and  more  careful 
of  life  ;  he  would  not  go  swimming  alone  ;  there  were 
many  feats  in  climbing,  which  he  used  to  perform, 
but  which,  now  that  he  was  a  husband  and  father,  he 
said  he  should  never  do  again.  There  were  many 


576  LIFE   OP   CHARLES    POLLEN. 

things  he  hoped  to  accomplish  in  life,  and  he  would 
often  say,  "  I  hope  to  live  to  write  my  views  fully 
upon  Religion  and  the  Church,  and  my  precious 
'  Psychology.'  '  When  I  spoke  sometimes  of  death, 
he  would  answer,  "  I  am  not  going  to  die,  I  am  going 
to  live  ;  life  is  before  us,  not  death  ;  life,  never-ending 
life  ;  what  we  call  death,  is  only  one  of  the  incidents 
of  life.  Death  is  the  final  revelation  and  confirmation 
of  immortality  ;  without  the  necessity  of  death,  there 
would  be  no  possibility  for  the  mind  to  rise  above 
it  in  this  life,  and  to  render  itself  worthy  of  immor- 
tality ;  death  is  not  considered  a  transition  to  another 
life  in  Scripture  ;  eternal  life  has  begun  for  us  as  soon 
as  we  are  conscious  of  it ;  come,  let  us  speak  of  life, 
and  what  we  shall  do  together  in  it."  When  I  would 
sometimes  say  sportively  to  a  friend,  on  Dr.  Follen's 
making  a  mistake  about  the  time,  "  He  lives  in  eter- 
nity, he  knows  nothing  of  time,"  he  would  reply, 
"  Very  true,  and  so  do  we  all.  '  Remember  thou 
shalt  die,'  was  the  celebrated  apothegm  of  Grecian 
wisdom,  but  the  watchword  of  Christianity  is  '  Re- 
member thou  shalt  live  for  ever.'  The  fear  of  death 
is  but  the  shadow  of  the  body,  which  shadow  must 
vanish,  as  the  sun  of  immortality  rises  in  the  zenith 
of  the  mind."  These  were  his  own  words,  and  with 
him  not  mere  words  ;  they  were  expressions  of  the 
greatest  realities  of  which  he  was  conscious.  Yet  he 
still  considered  this  life  a  great  blessing,  and  the  sud- 
den and  violent  loss  of  it  a  real  calamity.  Once, 
when  speaking  of  a  family,  a  part  of  which  had  been 
burned  to  death,  he  said,  "  It  kindles  my  deepest 


LIFE  OF  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          577 

compassion,  that  the  happiness  of  human  beings  should 
be  turned  into  the  extreme  of  human  suffering,  not  by 
the  free  devotion  of  martyrdom,  not  by  their  own 
guilt  or  imprudence,  not  even  by  the  delusion  or  cru- 
elty of  their  fellow-beings,  but  by  the  accidental  (I 
was  tempted  to  say  atheistical)  force  of  an  element." 

After  breakfast,  the  day  he  left  me,  I  said,  "  I  have 
been  thinking,  that  it  would  be  best  for  you  to  take 
Charles  with  you,  and  let  him  be  at  his  uncle's  in 
Boston,  till  we  return  ;  his  aunt  can  attend  to  his  les- 
sons, which  I  cannot  do  here,  and  he  is  spending  too 
much  idle  time."  He  agreed  with  me,  and  was  much 
pleased  with  the  plan,  and  we  had  more  than  half  de- 
cided upon  his  going.  "  Shall  you  be  anxious  about 
him  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Yes,  I  shall  ;  but,  if  it  is  best  he 
should  go,  never  mind  that."  "  I  will  not  take  him," 
said  he,  very  positively,  and  went  to  his  writing. 

During  the  morning,  one  or  two  friends  called  to 
see  him.  Although  his  time  was  so  short,  and  he  was 
so  anxious  to  finish  his  sermon,  he  gave  his  mind  to 
them  with  the  same  freedom  and  heartiness,  the  same 
sweetness  and  benevolence,  as  he  would  if  he  had 
been  at  leisure.  "  I  shall  finish  it  in  the  boat,"  said 
he.  He  left  off  writing  in  time  to  read  to  me  what 
he  had  written.  "  I  must  know  how  you  like  what 
I  have  written,"  said  he  ;  "I  hope  to  do  something 
upon  this  occasion  for  religious  freedom." 

He  left  on  his  writing-table  the  few  notes  he  had 
made  before  writing  his  sermon.  I  give  these  exactly 
as  I  found  them,  with  my  recollections  of  what  he 
said  to  me  on  the  subject. 

VOL.  i.  49 


578          LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN. 

"  '  Let  there  be  light  and  there  was  light.' ' 

"  The  words  of  the  Creator,  '  Let  there  he  light,' 
were  the  dedication  of  the  Universal  Temple. 

"  Human  nature  is  a  temple  within  the  temple. 
The  object  of  the  Christian  church  is  to  give  light  to 
the  world. 

"  The  purpose  of  the  Christian  minister  is  to  give 
light  to  his  people. 

11  The  duty  of  every  individual  is  to  acquire  and 
to  communicate  light. 

"  The  principle  of  freedom.  Of  an  enlarged  lib- 
erality. God  has  made  us  free.  Light  and  free- 
dom are  the  true  glory  and  purpose  of  a  truly  Chris- 
tian church.  Every  one  must  seek  for  light  in  his 
own  mind.  Every  human  being  must  be  the  creator 
of  his  own  moral  being  by  resolute  self-exertion." 

After  he  had  read  to  me  what  he  had  written  from 
these  notes,  he  said,  "  I  shall  explain  to  the  people 
the  meaning  and  use  of  symbols  in  general,  and  then 
explain  the  meaning  of  those  carved  on  the  pulpit." 
These  were  of  his  own  designing,  and  were  a  candle- 
stick, a  communion  cup,  a  crown  of  thorns,  a  wreath 
of  stars,  and,  in  the  centre,  a  cross.  "  I  shall  not 
write  this  part  pf  my  sermon,"  said  he,  "but  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  shall  say,  and  that  will  make  it  easier 
when  I  speak  to  the  people.  I  shall  tell  them,  that 
the  candlestick  is  a  symbol  of  the  light  which  should 
emanate  from  the  Christian  pulpit,  and  from  the  life 
of  every  individual  Christian.  The  crown  of  thorns  is 
a  representation  of  the  trials  and  sufferings  which  the 
faithful  Christian  has  to  endure  for  conscience'  sake. 


LIFE    OF    CHARLES    POLLEN.  579 

The  cup  signi6es  that  spiritual  communion,  which  we 
should  share  with  all  our  brethren  of  mankind,  and  that 
readiness  to  drink  the  bitter  cup  of  suffering  for  their 
sake,  and  for  conscience'  sake,  which  He  manifested, 
who  offered  it  to  his  disciples  before  he  was  betrayed. 
The  cross  is  a  type  of  Him  who  gave  his  life  for  us 
all,  and  whose  example  we  must  stand  ready  to  fol- 
low, even  though  it  lead  to  death.  The  circle  of  stars 
represents  the  wreath  of  eternal  glory  and  happiness, 
which  awaits  the  faithful  soul  in  the  presence  of 
God." 

These  were  his  words  ;  the  impression  was  so 
deep  upon  my  mind,  that  I  am  sure  I  cannot  have  de- 
viated far  from  them.  He  observed,  that  I  looked 
sad  and  did  not  speak.  "  Do  you  like  it  ?  "  he  asked. 
"O  very  much,"  said  I  ;  "but  I  was  thinking  of 
your  leaving  us,  and  wishing  that  I  were  to  be  there 
to  hear  you."  "  Have  you  no  criticisms  to  make  ?  " 
"  None,"  I  replied.  He  then  went  out  to  engage 
his  passage  ;  when  he  returned,  he  brought  me  an  iron 
clasp,  which  he  had  purchased  to  fasten  a  fur  tippet, 
that  he  wore  round  his  neck.  He  showed  it  to  me  ; 
it  was  two  hands  clasped  together.  "  I  have  taken 
pains,"  said  he,  "  to  choose  a  pretty  one  ;  I  selected 
it  from  a  large  number ;  see  how  pretty  the  device  is, 
and  how  well  it  is  wrought  ;  come,  you  must  be 
pleased  with  it.  As  you  are  not  well,  let  me  ask 

Miss  M to  sew   it  on."     "O   no,"   I  replied; 

"  I  had  rather  do  it."  I  sewed  it  on  for  him.  "  I 
should  go  so  much  more  willingly,"  he  said,  "  if  I 
thought  it  reasonable  in  the  people  to  insist  upon  it  ; 


580  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 

and  I  cannot  excuse  them  for  being  willing  to  have 
the  church  dedicated  without  you  there  to  witness  it. 
As  soon  as  the  service  is  over,  I  shall  set  off  on  my 
return  ;  and,  unless  I  think  it  will  give  the  people  pain, 
I  shall  not  stop  even  for  their  dinner  ;  I  shall  have 
no  heart  for  it.  With  a  swift  horse,  I  can  get  to 
Boston  in  time  for  the  oars  of  that  day,  and  be  soon 
on  my  way  to  you  again." 

He  arranged  his  papers  against  his  return.  He  was 
going  to  take  his  lectures  on  German  literature  with 
him,  but  I  urged  him  to  leave  them  with  me,  to  be  put 
in  my  trunk,  where  they  would  be  kept  in  better  order. 
He  made  a  little  memorandum  of  what  he  had  to  do 
when  he  returned.  One  article  was  to  get  the  "  Se- 
lections from  Fenelon"  reprinted  ;  the  next,  to  in- 
quire about  a  poor  German,  who  was  an  exile,  and  a 
sufferer  for  freedom's  sake.  The  last  was  to  get  a 
New  Year's  gift  for  a  poor  little  girl,  whom  we  had 
taken  to  live  with  us.  Just  as  I  left  the  door  at  Lex- 
ington, I  told  this  child,  that  if  she  was  a  good  girl,  I 
would  bring  her  a  New  Year's  gift  from  New  York. 
Dr.  Follen  overheard  me  ;  I  never  spoke  of  it  to  him. 
My  illness  and  anxiety  had  put  it  out  of  my  head,  but 
he  remembered  it.  As  he  put  his  sermon  in  his 
pocket,  he  said,  "  I  shall  not  go  to  bed,  but  devote 
th£  night  to  my  sermon  ;  I  want  to  make  something  of 
it  that  is  worth  hearing."  He  gave  Charles  some 
money,  and  told  him  to  go  presently  and  get  some 
grapes  for  me  at  a  shop  where  he  had  found  some 
very  fine  ones.  "  They  are  good  for  your  mother," 
he  said,  "  and  you  must  keep  her  supplied  till  my 


LIFE  OP  CHARLES  FOLLEN.          581 

return."  "  Be  of  good  courage  till  you  see  me  again," 
he  said  to  me  as  he  took  leave  of  me.  "  Be  a  good 
boy  and  obey  your  mother  till  I  come  back  again," 
were  his  words  to  Charles,  as  he  took  him  in  his 
arms,  and  kissed  him.  And  he  left  us. 

It  was  on  the  13th  of  January,  1840,  that  Dr.  Fol- 
len  left  New  York  for  Boston,  in  the  steam-boat  Lex- 
ington. The  terrible  story  of  her  destruction  is  known 
to  every  one,  and  that  he  was  one  of  the  sufferers. 


It  was  only  for  the  sake  of  my  child,  that  I  first 
thought  of  writing  the  history  of  his  father's  life,  feel- 
ing the  conviction,  that  it  would  be  the  best  blessing 
I  could  confer  upon  him  ;  but  my  friends  convinced 
me,  that  I  ought  to  have  a  wider  aim  and  a  higher 
purpose  than  this,  and  that  many  hearts  might  be 
elevated,  many  souls  quickened  and  blessed,  by  the 
contemplation  of  the  life  and  character  of  such  a 
being. 

I  may  say  with  truth,  and  in  his  own  words,  "  I 
have  wished  to  perform  this  duty  in  his  spirit,  not 
attempting  to  present  what  my  own  mind  might  in- 
vent, or  my  personal  feelings  dictate,  but,  from  such 
records  as  I  have,  to  give  the  simple  story  of  his 
life,  which  is  his  best  eulogy." 

I  feel  an  unutterable  shrinking  from  thus  removing 

the  veil  of  privacy  from  all  that  is  most  dear  and  holy 

in  rny  own  existence  ;  but  by  no  other  means  could 

the  beautiful  image  of  his  life  and  character  be  given. 

49  * 


•••  • 

582  LIFE    OF   CHARLES    FOLLEN. 


No  one  knew  him  as  I  did.  Therefore,  with  an  un- 
hesitating faith  and  a  cheerful  courage,  I  commit  this 
inadequate  record  of  my  husband's  life  to  the  public, 
remembering,  that  the  weak  feeling  which  makes  this 
act  a  sort  of  self-crucifixion,  will  pass  away,  and  that, 
while  the  hand  that  drew  it  will  be  forgotten,  this 
faithful  picture  of  human  excellence  will  live  for  ever 
in  the  minds  of  many. 

The  effort  to  suppress  the  anguish  of  soul,  which 
would  unfit  me  for  my  sacred  task,  has  contributed 
much  towards  the  fulfilment  of  his  parting  charge  to 
me,  to  "  be  of  good  courage"  till  we  meet  again. 

E.  L.  F. 

Brookline,  November  17 th,  1841. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 
POEMS. 

DAS   GROSSE  LIED. 

VORWOKT. 

Horcht  auf,  ihr  Fflrsten  !     Du  Volk,  horch  auf ! 
Freiheit  und  Rach'  in  vollem  Lauf, 
Gottes  Wetter  ziehen  blutig  herauf ! 
Auf,  dass  in  Weltbrands  Stunden 
Ihr  nicht  schlafend  werdet  gefunden  ! 
Reiss'  aus  dem  Schlummer  dich,  trftges  Gewflrme 
Am  Himmel,  shau  auf,  in  Gewitterspracht 
Hell  aufgegangen  dein  Todesgestirne  ! 
Es  erwacht, 
Es  erwacht, 

Tief  aus  der  sonnenschwangern  Nacht 
In  blutflammender  Morgenwonne, 
Der  Sonnen  Sonne, 
Die  Volkesmacht ! 

Spruch  des  Herrn,  du  bist  gesprochen, 
Volksblut,  Freiheitsblut,  du  wirst  gerochen, 
Gotzendammrung,  du  bist  angebrochen. 

MOTTO. 

Wenn  Blumen  sengt  und  Eichen 
Der  wUste  Sonnenbrand, 
Zum  Schattenheer  das  Volk  wird, 
Zum  Menschheitsgrab  das  Land, 
Wenn,  gleich  dein  Alp,  das  Land  drtlckt 
.    Die  Qualmmacht  trOb  und  bang, 


586  APPENDIX. 

Kein  Voglein  mehr  darf  singen 
Des  Herzens  freien  Sang, 
Wenn  Strome  Sflmpfe  werden, 
Sich  Bach  und  Born  verpesten, 
Dass  lust'ge  Fische  sterben, 
Und  Krot  und  MoJch  sich  maslen 
Dann  mtlssen  Blitze  leuchten, 
Zornschwere  Wetter  krachen, 
Urn  Menschen  aus  den  Schatten, 
Um  Tag  aus  Nacht  zu  machen  ! 


STIMMEN    ATTS    DEM    VOLKE. 

Bin  Alter  sang  aus  tiefster  Brust, 
In  ihm  war  todt  fur  hier  der  Hoffnung  Lust, 
Er  sang  zur  allerletzten  Reise 
Sich  selber  seine  Grabesweise. 
Langsam  und  schwer  hub  also  an  der  Greise  : 

"  Wenn  Trug,  Gewalt,  Zwingherrschaft,  Pfaffenthum, 
Des  Lastergifts  allmahl'ge  Unterhohlung, 

Das  wohlgefeite 

Das  gottgeweihte 

Erzhaus  der  Menschheit,  sein  Urheiligthum, 
Die  Volksfreiheit  zertrOrnmert ; 
Wenn  du,  mein  wundes  Vaterland,  verkummert; 
Dann  sei  mein  Blut  noch  deine  letzte  Oelung. 

O  Freiheit,  Maienwonne, 
Braut  meiner  Seele,  nieiner  Sonnen  Sonne, 
Wenn  du  von  diesem  Eiland 
Des  Weltenmeers 
Entschwebst  zum  Weltenheiland  ! 

Freiheit  du  erstes  Lacheln  meines  Mundes, 
Mein  Urbild  und  mein  erst  Gebel, 
Das  noch  in  ineinem  Herzen  flammend  sleht, 
In  deiner  Kraft  erfliegt  die  Deutsche  Jugend 
Die  Sternenhoh'  urdeutscher  Heldentugend, 
Dich  weiht  als  geistig  Bannerkreuz  des  Bundes 
Golt,  der  den  Grund  sieht  unsres  Herzensgrundes. 


APPENDIX.  587 

Ja  wenn  des  Lebens  erste  Saamenkorner 
Erbluht,  erstorben  sind  zu  neuem  Saamen, 
Dann  greif  ich  freudig  in  den  Kranz  der  Dorner, 
Hell  klingen  mir  die  ewgen  Siegeshorner, 
Und  Freiheit,  Freiheit  ist  mein  Amen,  Amen  !  " 

Doch  es  sungen 

Die  Jungen 

Frisch,  frohlich  und  frei, 
Die  muthigen  Sohne  der  Turnerei ; 
Sternaugen  funkeln,  Schwerdter  sind  bios, 
Laut  schallet  der  Freiheit  Trompetenstoss. 


Schmettr'  heraus 
Aus  der  Brust 
Jugendbraus, 
Sch  we  rd  tsgesaus, 
Freiheitslust. 

Herz  und  Him, 
Brich  mit  Macht 
Brust  und  Stirn, 
Brich  Geslirn 
Durch  die  Nacht ! 

Menschenmenge,  grosse  Menschenwdste, 

Die  umsonst  der  GeistesfrUhling  grdste,- 

Reisse,  breche  endlich  altes  Eis  ! 

StUrz  in  starken  stolzen  Meeresstrudeln 

Hin  auf  Knecht  und  Zwinghern,  die  dich  hudeln, 

Sei  ein  Volk,  ein  Freistaat,  werde  heiss  ! 

Bleibt  im  Freiheitskampf  das  Herz  dir  f'rostig, 
In  der  Scheide  wird  dein  Schwerdt  dann  rostig, 
Mannervville,  aller  Schwerdter  Schwerdt! 
Wird  es  gar  im  Fiirstenkampf  geschwungen, 


588  APPENDIX. 

Bald  1st  es  zerschartet,  bald  zersprungen  ; 
Nur  im  Volkskampf  blitzt  es  unversehrt! 

Thurmhoch  auf  der  Burger  und  der  Bauerri 

Nacken  mogt  ihr  cure  Zwingburg  mauern, 

Fflrstenmauer  drei  und  dreimal  zehn. 

Babels  Herrenthum  und  faule  Weichheit 

Sturzt  in  Nacht  und  Trummern  Freiheit,  Gleichheit, 

Gottheit,  aus  der  Menschheit  Mutterwehn  ! 

Der  Volker  Volk  liegt  nieder  in  Angst  und  Schweiss 
Seinen  Hunger  nahrend  in  stummem  Fleiss. 

"  Du  armes  Volk,  dir  ist  so  heiss, 

Du  bist  so  elend,  so  herzenskrank, 

Beut  keiner  dir  einen  Labetrank  ?  " 

"    Mir  sprangen  viel  lustige  Seegensbronnen, 
Doch  die  sich  zu  Hdtern  mir  gesetzt, 
Die  haben  das  Wasser  vergiflet  zuletzt. 
Lang'  haben  mich  blutige  Thranen  geletzt. 
Doch  nun  sind  auch  die  Zahren  mir  zerronnen, 
Meine  Zung'  ist  gelahmt,  mein  Arm  ist  zerschlagen, 
Mein  Herz  ist  zerbrochen  und  stirbt  in  Klagen  ; 
Leben  muss  ich,  ewig  sterbend  zu  verzagen.'  " 


VIELE    STIMMEN    IM    VOLKE. 

Brdder,  so  kann's  nicht  gehn, 
Lasst  uns  zusammen  stehn, 
Duldets  nicht  mehr ! 
Freiheit,  dein  Baum  fault  ab, 
Jeder  am  Bettelstab 
Beist  bald  ins  Hungergrab  ; 
Volk  ins  Gewehr ! 

Bruder  in  Gold  und  Seid, 
Bruder  im  Bauernkleid, 
Reicht  euch  die  Hand  ! 


APPENDIX.  589 

Allen  rufl  Teutschland's  Noth 
Allen  des  Herrn  Gebot : 
Schlagt  cure  Plager  todt, 
Rettei  das  Land  ! 


DER   TISCH   DES   HERRN    IN   NACHT   UND   WALD. 

Es  zieht  elne  Schaar  von  Mannern  sicli 
Herab  zum  dunkeln  Haine, 

Beiin  dammernden  Fackelscheine ; 
Still  ist  ihr  Blick,  aber  schauerlich 
Nachlschwarz  ihr  Gewand,  einfaltiglich, 
Nichls  Glanzendes  blickt  ihr  an  solchen 
Als  den  Glanz  von  geschliffenen  Dolchen. 

Und  dort  wo  die  Tannen  und  Eichen  im  Runde 

Zum  erhabenen  Dome  sich  thtlrmen, 

Gottes  Orgel  brauset  in  StQrmen, 

Wie  ein  Altar  aufsteigt  der  Felsengrund, 

Dort  trat  man  zusammen  zur  Mitternachtsstund, 

Und  hervor  aus  dem  heiligen  Kreise 

Dumpf  shauerlich  tonte  die  Weise  : 

Nacht  und  kein  Stern  ! 
Ztlndet  des  Opfertods  Kerzen, 
Braust  in  die  Segel  der  Herzen, 
Sttlnne  des  Herrn. 

Aus  Nacht  und  Sturm 
Spross  eine  Freiheitsrose, 
Weh,  in  dem  eignen  Schoose 
Trug  sie  den  Wurru. 

Freiheit  ist  todt, 
Uberall  bleiches  Verderben, 
Feiglieit  und  ewiges  Sterben, 
Knechlschaft  und  Noth. 
VOL.  i.  50 


590  APPENDIX. 

Rachengel  auf, 
Auf,  die  Posaunen  erklingen, 
Graber  und  Sarge  zerspringen  ; 
Freiheit  steht  auf. 

Drum  stehn  wir  bier; 
Dir  soil  dies  Leben  gehoren, 
Freiheitslodt !  Vater  wir  schworen 
Kniend  bei  Dir. 

Und  wie  was  da  lebet  und  kreucht  und  fleucht, 
Wenn  der  Donner  des  Hochsten  erbrullet, 

In  tiefes  Schweigen  sich  bullet, 
So  knien  sie,  im  stummen  Danke  gebeugt, 
Vor  dem,  dess  Gnad'  uns  zur  Freiheit  erzeugt, 
Bis  zween  Alteste  treten  zusammen, 
Und  entzunden  des  Hocbaltars  Flammen. 


Und  die  Todbrflder  treten  zum  Altar  bin, 

Zu  empfahn  in  heilger  Entflammung, 

Was  uns  Heil  bringt  oder  Verdammung. 

Mil  dem  Konig  der  Marl'rer  Ein  Blut  und  Ein  Sinn, 

So  nehmen  die  Marty rerweihe  sie  bin, 

Und  weihn  sich  der  ew'gen  Erbarmung 

Mit  Opfergesang  und  Umarmung. 

ABENDMAHLLIED   FREIER   FREUNDE. 

Mir  wars  im  Herzensraum 
So  ode  sonst,  so  traurig, 
Nur  Flammen  so  wild  und  schaurig 
Storten  den  bangen  Traum, 
Wie  dort,  wo  sich  die  Eiskristalle  thflrmen, 
Oft  Gluthen  grasslich  schon  zum  Himmel  stUrmen, 

So  sturmten  ohne  Meister 
Im  shauernden  EntzQcken  meine  Geister. 

Doch  nun,  wie  Mondesnacht 
Bei  lichtem  Sterngewimmel, 


APPENDIX.  591 

Ja  wie  ein  Fruhlingshimmel 

In  milder  Rosenpracht, 

Als  sangen  die  Gestirne  mir  entgegen, 

So  trftnkt  ein  gflldner  heilger  Strahlenregen 

Des  Herzens  welke  Pflanze. 
Was  ists  mit  diesen  Klangen,  diesem  Glanze  ? 

Der  Friede  Gottes  ruht 
In  stiller  Unschuld  Feier, 
Hehr  wie  ein  Jungfraunschleier, 
Mir  neu  auf  Herz  und  Muth  ; 
Den  ich  im  Tod  nur  hoffle  zu  umarmen, 
Last  lebend  mich  an  seiner  Brust  erwarmen, 

Seit  ich  in  seinem  Blute 
Zerbrach  den  Tod  und  des  Gewissens  Ruthe. 

O  Jesu,  liebster  Mein  ! 
In  Fleisch  und  Blut  und  Leben 
Im  hochsten  Geisterstreben 
Bin  ich  nun  ewig  dein. 
Der  du  dem  Urgeist,  der  das  All  gegrUndet, 
Die  Menschheit  hast  durch  Wort  und  That  verbtindet, 

Hast  neu  fdr  mich  vergossen 
Dein  Blut,  und  in  dein  Herz  mich  eingeschlossen. 

Wohl  ist  der  Fitlhling  schon, 
Ein  Kindlein  wach  vom  Schlummer, 
Ein  Lachlein  aus  dem  Kummer, — 
Der  Herbst  malt  Wald  und  Hoh'n, 
Das  Aug'  in  Sehnsuchtstraumen  halb  geschlossen, 
In  Farbenbildern  schwarmerisch  ergossen  ;  — 

Doch  all  dies  Freudeweben 
Ist  direin  Hauch,  in  dir  wohntewig  Leben. 

Dirbist  du,  Mensch,  entflohn, 
Ein  Christus  sollst  du  werden, 
Wie  du,  ein  Kind  der  Erden 
War  auch  des  Menschen  Sohn. 


592  APPENDIX. 

In  deinem  Sein  ist  dir  das  Nichts  vernichtet, 
Gott  richtet  dich,  wie  du  dich  selbst  gerichtet  j 

Gott  ward  durch,  sick,  durch  Lif.be 
Der  Mensch,  dass  Erjina  Ziel  und  Vorwurf  bliebe. 

O  Schiff  der  Gotteshuld, 
Du  ftthrst  durch  macht'ge  Pfade 
Uns  ans  Gestad'  der  Gnade 
Aus  diesem  Meer  der  Schuld. 
O  Tod  des  Herrn,  du  Niedergang  voll  Schmerzen 
Zum  Sonnenaufgang  aller  glaub'gen  Herzen, 

Himmlischer  Friedensbogen 
Aus  Thranentrtlbsal  mild  emporgezogen. 

Du  mein  teutsch  Vaterland 
Gabst  mir  mein  Hochstes  wieder, 
Du  reichtest  treu  und  bieder 
Dem  Irrenden  die  Hand. 
Dich  fleht'  ich  an  in  brtinstiger  Umarmung, 
Ich  kniete  nieder,  bat  und  fand  Erbarmung, 

Es  starb  Furcht,  Gram  und  SOnde, 
Dass  Liebe  seelig  in  mir  auferstiinde. 

Ja  in  der  Liebe  soil 
Die  Freiheit  sich  verklaren. 
Der  Glauben  sich  bewahren 
Zu  Thaten  wundervoll. 

Wie  aus  dem  Weltmeer  sleigt  die  freie  Wolke, 
So  schwingt  die  Menschheit  sich  empor  im  Volke ; 

Wo  Recht  und  Freiheit  waltet, 
Die  Gottheit  in  der  Menschheit  sich  entfaltet. 

Ihr,  die  mit  rnir  zugleich 
Den  Glaubenstrank  genossen, 
Der  Tugend  Bund  geschlossen 
For  Kreuz  und  Schwerdt  und  Eich', 
Ein  Herz,  Ein  Arm,  Ein  Blut  sind  wir  geworden, 
Der  ew'gen  Freiheit  heil'ger  Mart'rerorden. 


APPENDIX.  593 


Stehn  wir  nur  treu  beisammen, 
Wird  uns  der  Liebe  Heil'genschein  umflammen. 

Der  du  am  Brandaltar 
Elias  Ruf  erhortest, 
Baals  Thron  und  Frohn  zerstortest, 
Zu  dir  fleht  unsre  Schaar 
Am  Vaterlands-Altar  mit  Herz  und  Munde, 
Dein  Opfer  harrt,  fach  an  zum  Flammenbunde 

Die  teutschen  Hochgebirge, 
Dann  Volk  die  Molochspriester  wttrge,  wtlrge  ! 


THE   GREAT  SONG. 

PREFACE. 

ARISE,  ye  princes  !     Ye  people,  arise  ! 
Freedom  and  vengeance  in  full  career, 
God's  tempests  in  blood  are  approaching  ! 
Up,  that  when  the  world  is  blazing 
You  may  not  be  then  found  sleeping ! 
Rise  from  thy  slumbers,  lazy  worm,  rise, 
To  the  heavens  look  up ;  'midst  glorious  storms 
In  splendor  thy  death-star  has  risen ! 
It  awakes, 
It  awakes, 

Deep  from  the  sun-bearing  night 
In  the  blood-glowing  joy  of  the  morning, 
The  sun  of  all  suns, 
The  people's  might! 

Word  of  the  Lord,  thou  hast  been  spoken, 
Liberty's  blood,  blood  of  the  people,  thou  art  avenged, 
Twilight  of  idols,  thou  art  beginning. 

MOTTO. 

When  the  oaks  and  flowers  wither 
In  the  wasting,  parching  sun, 
50* 


594  APPENDIX. 

Then  the  people  are  but  shadows, 

And  the  land  a  grave  for  men  ; 

When  tyrannic  power  presses 

Like  a  nightmare  on  the  land, 

Then  no  little  bird  can  sing 

His  heartsome  freedom-song ; 

When  the  streams  are  changed  to  marshes, 

And  when  all  the  hills  and  fountains 

Send  forth  only  poisonous  vapors, 

And  the  merry  fishes  die, 

And  the  toads  and  vermin  fatten  ;  — 

Then  the  lightnings  must  descend, 

And  the  angry  tempests  roar, 

That  mankind  may  rise  from  shadows, 

That  the  day  may  dawn  from  night ! 

VOICE    FROM    THE    PEOPLE. 

An  old  man  sang  from  his  deep  breast, 
In  him  were  dead  for  aye  the  springs  of  hope, 
He  sang  a  song  for  his  last  journey, 
He  sang  himself  his  own  grave-song. 
Slowly  and  heavily  thus  sang  the  old  man  : 
"  When  tyranny,  priestcraft,  and  fraud, 
The  slow  undermining  corrosion  of  vice, 
Have  triumphed  and  overthrown  freedom. 
The  dearly  beloved, 
The  heaven-devoted 
Arch,  temple,  and  home  of  mankind  ; 
When  thou,  wounded  fatherland,  pinest  away  ; 
Then  for  thy  last  unction  my  blood  shall  be  given. 

O  freedom,  thou  glory  of  May, 
Bride  of  my  soul,  sun  of  my  suns, 
When  thou  from  this  island  in  this  sea  of  worlds 

Didst  depart  to  the  saviour  of  men  ! 
O  freedom,  first  smile  of  my  lips, 
My  ideal,  my  earliest  prayer, 
Which  still  in  my  heart  ever  glows, 
Yet  in  thy  might  shall  the  German  youth  rise. 
To  the  starry  height  of  their  ancient  truth  ; 


li 

-9 


APPENDIX.  595 

As  the  cross  of  the  spirit,  God  consecrates  thee, 

He  who  sees  the  foundations  on  which  their  hearts  rest. 

Yes,  when  the  first  seeds  of  this  life  have  bloomed, 

And  have  ripened  and  died  for  new  seed, 

The  crown  of  thorns  then  I  will  seize  on  with  joy, 

The  trumpet  of  eternal  victory  sounds, 

And  Freedom !  Freedom,  shall  be  my  Amen,  my  Amen !  " 

But  the  young, 

They  still  sung 
Fresh,  merry,  and  free. 
Worthy  sons  of  the  gymnasium, 
Eyes  are  sparkling,  swords  are  flashing, 
Sound  the  trump  of  liberty. 


Burst,  come  forth 
From  the  heart, 
Youthful  shouts, 
Clashing  swords, 
Freedom's  joy. 

Heart  and  brain, 
Swell  with  might 
Breast  and  front, 
Break,  ye  stars, 
Through  the  night. 

Human  masses,  mighty  human  deserts, 
Who  in  vain  the  spirit's  spring  has  greeted, 

Give  way,  break  up  old  ice  ! 
Rush  in,  mighty  angry  ocean  billows, 
Over  slaves  and  tyrants  who  oppress  thee  ; 
Be  a  nation,  be  a  free  state,  be  on  fire  ! 

If  thy  bosom  beats  coldly  for  freedom, 

Thy  sword  in  its  scabbard  will  rust ; 

The  sword  of  all  swords  is  the  high  manly  will  ! 

But  if  in  the  battles  of  Princes  't  is  drawn, 

Then  soon  it  will  shiver  and  break  ; 

It  flashes  unhurt  when  it  fights  for  the  people  ! 


596  APPENDIX. 

Ye  may  tread  on  the  necks  of  the  peasants, 
Three  times  you  may  treble  your  walls, 
Princely  masons  !  yet  freedom,  equality, 
Divinity,  born  from  humanity's  throes, 
Shall  hurl  into  darkness  and  ruin  this  Babel 
Of  lazy,  effeminate  tyrants. 

The  nation  of  nations,  exhausted  and  worn, 
In  dumb  industry  labors  for  food. 

"  Poor  people,  spent  with  toil  and  heat, 

Thou  art  so  wretched,  sick  at  heart. 

Will  no  one  give  a  cooling  draught  ?  " 

I*  '.,-••:  Ujfa 

"  Once  for  me  pure  springs  were  bubbling, 
But  they,  who  made  themselves  my  guardians, 
Have  poisoned  all  these  blessed  streams. 
Long  my  bloody  tears  refreshed  me, 
Now  e'en  my  tears  are  dried  away, 
My  tongue  is  tied,  my  arm  is  bruised, 
With  grief  my  broken  heart  is  dead, 
Despairing  I  must  ever  live." 

MANY    VOICES    FROM    THE    PEOPLE. 

Brethren,  this  must  not  be, 
Let  us  stand  together, 

We  '11  bear  no  more  ! 
Liberty,  thy  tree  decays, 
Each,  on  his  beggar's  staff, 
Will  sink  in  famine's  grave. 

People,  to  arms ! 

Brethren  in  gold  and  silk, 
Brethren  in  the  peasant's  garb, 

Take  each  other  by  the  hand  ! 
To  each  one  cries  his  country's  need, 
The  Lord's  commandment  calls  to  all, 
Destroy  your  tormentors ! 

Rescue  the  land  ! 


APPENDIX.  597 

TABLE    OF    THE    LORD.       NIGHT,   AND   A   WOOD. 

A  band  of  men  is  seen  descending 
To  the  dark  and  gloomy  wood, 

By  the  torches'  flickering  light ; 
Quiet  is  their  look,  but  fearful  is 
Their  black  and  simple  dress ; 

No  glittering  show  in  them  you  see, 

Save  the  glitter  of  their  daggers. 

Now  where  the  pine-trees  and  oaks  in  a  circle, 
Rise  towering  up  to  a  lofty  dome, 

Where  the  organ  of  God  is  heard  in  the  tempest, 
And  where  the  old  rocks  like  an  altar  ascend, 
There  stood  they  together  at  the  dead  midnight  j 
And  now,  from  the  holy  band,  slowly 

And  solemnly  rises  the  song : 

Night  and  no  stars  ! 
Death's  tapers  are  lighting ; 
Rush  into  the  sails  of  the  heart, 
Storms  of  the  Lord. 

From  tempest  and  night 
Sprang  liberty's  rose ; 
Alas  !  its  own  bosom 
Nourished  the  worm. 

Now  freedom  is  dead, 
Everywhere  is  pale  ruin  ; 
Death  and  fear  are  around  us, 
Bondage  and  want. 

Rise,  angel  of  vengeance, 
The  trumpets  are  sounding, 
The  graves  are  all  opening, 
Freedom  is  risen ! 

For  this  we  stand  here, 

Murdered  Freedom,  to  thee 


598  APPENDIX. 

Give  our  lives  !  Father,  we  swear, 
Kneeling  to  thee  ! 

And  as  all  the  living,  whether  creeping  or  flying, 
When  the  Highest  in  thunder  is  speaking, 

In  silence  and  awe  bow  themselves  ; 
So  knelt  they  in  silence,  and  gratefully  prayed 
To  Him,  whose  rich  grace  doth  liberty  give  ; 

Now  two  aged  men  step  forward  together, 

And  kindle  the  flames  on  the  altar. 

Round  the  altar  they  gather  these  brethren  in  death, 
That  holy  inspiring  rite  to  receive, 

That  brings  us  salvation  or  shame. 

One  blood  and  one  mind  with  the  great  king  of  martyrs, 
Consecrated  as  martyrs  they  stand, 

And  offer  themselves  to  mercy  eternal 

In  high  sacred  song  and  embrace. 

COMMUNION-SONG   OF   FREE    FRIENDS. 

There  dwelt  once  in  my  heart, 

So  lonely,  and  so  mournful, 

Flames  only  wild  and  fearful, 

Disturbed  and  anxious  dreams  ; 

As  where  you  see  from  icy  crystal  towers 

In  horrid  beauty  flames  to  heaven  ascend, 

So  stormed  once  without  master 
In  shuddering  wild  joy  my  soul. 

Now  like  a  moonlight  night, 

Like  the  clear  starry  heavens, 

Like  the  sky  in  early  spring-time, 

Like  the  blossoming  of  roses, 

As  though  all  the  stars  sang  together  to  me, 

A  holy  shower  of  golden  rays 

Falls  on  my  fainting  heart. 
What  are  these  sounds  I  hear  ?     What  is  this  glory  ? 


APPENDIX.  599 

The  peace  of  Heaven  descends 

Solemn,  calm  as  innocence, 

Holy  as  a  virgin's  veil, 

Upon  my  heart  and  soul ; 

Who  only  in  death  I  hoped  to  embrace, 

Now  warms  me  in  life  at  his  breast, 

Since  I  in  his  blood 
Have  broken  the  terrors  of  conscience  and  death. 

0  Jesus  !  thou  beloved  one, 
In  flesh,  in  blood,  and  in  life, 
In  my  highest  aspirations, 

1  now  am  thine  for  ever. 

Thou  who  to  the  Being  of  beings,  the  Father  of  all, 
By  deed  and  by  word  hast  united  mankind, 

Now  sheddest  thy  blood  too  for  me, 
Now  receivest  me  into  thy  bosom. 

Surely  spring  is  lovely, 
A  child  that  wakes  from  slumber, 
A  smile  that  follows  sorrow, 
Forests  decked  in  autumn  hues, 
Eyes  half  closed  in  longing  dreams, 
Wrapped  in  visions  wild  and  strange  ; 

But  this  joyful,  active  life, 
Is  but  a  breath  to  Thee,  in  Thee  dwells  eternal  life. 

Hast  thou  escaped  thyself? 

A  Christ  shall  thou  become  ; 

A  child  of  earth,  like  thee, 

Was  he,  the  Son  of  Man. 

In  thy  being  nothingness  is  turned  to  nought; 

God  judges  thee,  as  thou  hast  judged  thyself; 

God  through  himself,  through  love,  became  a  man, 
That  he  our  aim  and  model  might  remain. 

O  vessel  of  God's  mercy  ! 

Thou  bearest  us  through  gloomy  paths, 


600  APPENDIX. 

To  realms  of  heavenly  grace, 
Far  from  this  sea  of  guilt. 

0  death  of  Jesus,  setting  full  of  woe, 
For  rising  of  all  faithful  hearts  ; 

Heavenly  bow  of  endless  peace, 
Gently  shining  through  our  tears  of  sorrow. 

O,  thou  my  Fatherland  ! 

Thou  gavest  me  my  highest  good  ; 

True  and  faithful  thou  hast  given 

To  the  wanderer  a  hand  ; 

In  eager  longings  I  implored  thee, 

1  knelt  and  prayed  and  pity  gained, 

Fear,  sin,  and  sorrow  died, 
That  happy  love  might  rise  within  me. 

Yes,  liberty  in  love 
Shall  yet  be  glorified  ; 
Faith  shall  approve  itself 
In  glorious  deeds. 
As  the  free  cloud  from  ocean  rises, 
Humanity  shall  from  the  people  rise  ; 
Where  right  and  liberty  prevail, 
In  human  nature  the  divine  unfolds. 

You,  who  together  have  with  me 

Enjoyed  this  dream  of  faith, 

And  joined  this  league  of  virtue, 

For  cross,  and  sword,  and  oak, 

We  now  are  one  ;  one  heart,  one  aim,  one  blood 

The  martyr  order  of  eternal  freedom. 

If  we  but  stand  together, 
Then  love  will  shed  its  glowing  halo  round  us. 


APPENDIX.  601 


TURNERSTAAT. 


Schalle,  du  Freiheitssang  ! 

Walle,  wie  Wogendrang 

Aus  Felsenbrust  ! 

Feig  bebt  der  Kneehte  Schwarm  ; 

Uns  schlagt  das  Herz  so  warm, 

Uns  zuckt  der  Jttnglingsarm 

Voll  Thatenlust. 

Gott  Vater  !  Dir  zu  Ruhm 
Flammt  Deutsches  Ritterthum 
In  uns  aufs  neu ; 
Neu  wird  das  alte  Band, 
Wachsend  wie  Feuersbrand  : 
Gott,  Freiheit,  Vaterland, 
Altteulsche  Treu. 

Einfach  und  glaubig  sey, 
Kraftig  und  keusch  und  frei 
Hermanns  Geschlecht ! 
Zwingherrnmacht,  Knechtewitz 
Malmt  Gottes  Racheblitz ; 
Euch  sei  der  Konigssitz 
Freiheit  und  Recht ! 

Freiheit!  in  uns  erwacht 
1st  deine  Geistermacht, 
Dein  Reich  genaht. 
Gltthend  nach  Wissenschaft, 
BlOhend  in  Ritterkraft, 
Sei,  Deutsche  Turnerschaft, 
Ein  Bruderstaat. 

Sause,  du  Freiheitssang! 
Brause,  wie  Donnerklang 
Aus  Wolkenbrust! 
Ein  Herz,  ein  Leben  ganz 
Stehn  wir,  ein  Sternenkranz 
VOL.   I.  51 


602  APPENDIX. 

Um  einer  Sonne  Glanz, 
Voll  Himmelslust ! 


GYMNASTIC  STATE. 

ECHO,  thou  freedom's  song  !  rush  like  the  waves  along 

From  the  rock's  breast ! 

Tremble,  thou  slave  throng;  for  us  beats  the  heart  so  warm, 
For  us  moves  the  young  man's  arm,  longing  for  deeds. 

God,  Father !  to  thy  glory  flames  German  chivalry 

In  us  anew; 

New  becomes  the  old  bond,  kindling  like  firebrand ; 
God  !  Freedom  !  Fatherland  !  old  German  truth. 

Simple  and  full  of  faith,  fearless  and  chaste  and  free, 

Be  Hermann's  race ! 

Tyrants'  might,  tyrants'  craft,  God's  lightnings  overthrow  : 
Be  for  you  the  ruler's  seat,  Freedom  and  Right! 

Freedom,  in  us  aroused  is  thy  spirit's  power, 

Thy  kingdom  comes. 

Blooming  in  knightly  grace,  burning  for  knowledge  too, 
May  the  German  Gymnasts  be  one  brother-state  ! 

Pour  forth,  thou  freedom's  song  !  roll,  as  the  thunder  bursts 

From  the  cloud's  breast ! 

One  heart,  one  true  life,  one  starry  wreath  we  stand, 
In  the  light  of  one  sun,  full  of  Heaven's  bliss ! 


TURNBEKENNTNISS. 

Auf  Jubeldonner  und  Liedersturm  ! 
Der  Begeisterung  Blitz  hat  geztlndet ; 
Uer  Mannheit  Eiche,  der  Deutschheit  Thurm 
1st  in  Deutschland  wieder  gegrilndet : 


APPENDIX.  603 

Der  Freiheit  Wiege,  dein  Sarg,  Drangerei ! 
Wird  gezimmert  aus  dem  Baum  der  Turnerei. 

Ein  Turner  ist  der  :  so  mit  Wehr  und  Geschoss 
Durch  das  Blachfeld  sturmt,  durch  Geklufle, 
In  die  Wogen  sich  wirft,  auf  das  baumende  Ross, 
In  die  Ldfte  sich  schwingt,  in  die  Grufte, 
Der  Freiheit  uicht  ohne  Gleichheit  kennt, 
Dem  Gott  und  sein  Volk  nur  ini  Busen  brennt ! 

Das  Kreuz  und  der  sausende  Freiheitsfahn, 
Auf  des  Hochstamms  zerhauener  Krone, 
Beut  Kreuzeslast  auf  der  sauren  Bahn 
Und  Rast  auf  dem  Kreuz  ihm  zu  Lohne ; 
Die  Eintracht  schirmet,  die  Gleichtracht  wacht 
Vor  Hochmuthsteufel  und  Niedertracht. 

Auf  auf  du  Turner  !  Du  Deutscher,  wohlan  ! 

Auf  ehrliche,  wehrliche  Jugend  ! 

Noch  ficht  mit  der  Wahrheit  gekronter  Wahn, 

Noch  kampft  mit  dem  Teufel  die  Tugend. 

Schwerdstahl,aus  dem  Rost!  aus  dem  SchlauchjungerMost ! 

Durch  die  Dunstlufl,  Nordost !  grttner  Mai,  aus  dem  Frost ! 


THE  GYMNAST'S  CREED. 

SOUND  thunders  of  jubilee,  storm  of  song ! 

Inspiration  has  kindled  her  lightnings ; 

The  oak  tree  of  manhood,  the  true  German  tower, 

In  Germany  once  more  is  planted  : 

Liberty's  cradle,  thy  coffin,  Oppression  ! 

Is  carved  from  the  wood  of  the  Gymnast's  tree. 

A  Gymnast  is  he,  who  with  weapons  and  armour 
Storms  over  the  plains  and  through  gulfs, 
On  his  prancing  steed  rushes  into  the  waves 
Swings  into  the  air,  leaps  into  the  caves, 


604  APPENDIX. 

Who  knows  no  liberty  without  equality, 

In  whose  heart  only  God  and  his  country  glow ! 

«  »  «  '    ,  *2  ft  •_ 

t  Arise  thou  Gymnast !  thou  German,  come  on  ! 
Up,  ye  noble,  ye  warlike  young  men ! 
With  crowned  error  truth  yet  is  contending, 
Still  the  devil  is  fighting  with  virtue. 

Sword-blades,  quit  your  rust !  from  your  skins  rush,  new  wine 
From  vapors,  north  wind  !     Green  May,  from  the  frost ! 


BUNDESLIED  (DER  SCHWEIZER  AUF  DEM  RUTLI-) 

Auf !  ihr  Glocken  dieses  festen  Thurmes, 

Bruderstimmen,  auf !  stimmt  machtigan! 

Schlagt  im  Wehn  des  Liedersturmes,  Freiheitsflammen,  himmelan  ! 

Bundesflammen,  himmelan ! 

Reran  !  herau  !  heran ! 

Preis  zuerst  dir,  hochster  Hort  und  Retter, 

Vater !  der  uns  frei  und  seelig  macht ; 

Dein  Bannir,  dein  heilig  Wetter  leucht'  uns  vor   in    Nacht  und 

Schlacht, 
Dass  Zwinguri  niederkracht ! 

Hurrah  !  hurrah !  hurrah  ! 

Auf!  ihr  Saulen  eines  Bruderdomes, 

Schiltzet  eures  Volkes  Altarflamm  ! 

Quellen  eines  Freiheitsstromes  :  nieder  reisst  der  Bosheit  Damm! 

Der  Gewaltherrn  ganzen  Stamm  ! 

Hinan  !  hinan  !  hinan! 


•f  A  stanza  is  here  omitted  in  the  translation,  because  the  technical  al- 
lusions which  it  contains  make  it  almost  unintelligible  to  one  not  familiar 
with  a  German  Gymnasium. 


APPENDIX.  605 

Ja,  "  bei  Gott  und  Vaterland  !  verderben 

Woll'n  wir  der  Gewaltherrn  letzte  Spur; 

Gem  far  Recht,  filr  Freiheit  slerben,  bleibt  dem  Volk  die  Freiheitnur!" 

Gott  hor*  unsern  Bundesschwur  ! 

Hor'  an  !  hbV  an  !  hor'  an  ! 

Steig'  aus  unsers  Blutes  Morgenglanze 

Glflh'nde  Volkessonn"  in  alter  Pracht ! 

In  des  Reiches  Sternenglanze  steig'  aus  unsers  Todes  Nacht : 

Freistaat,  Volkes  Gottesmacht ! 

Empor!  Empor  !  Einpor  ! 

Aus  den  Dornen  unsrer  Martrerkronen 

Blflhen  Rosen  auf  dem  Vaterland. 

Freiem  Muth  muss  Freiheit  lohnen  :  darum  Brflder  Hand  in  Hand 

FoJgt  der  Freiheit  heil'gein  Brand  ! 

Voran  !  voran  !  voran ! 

Heil  dir  Bruderbund  !  den  wir  beschworen, 

Heil  dir  Freiheitswiege  !  Zwingherrngruft! 

Der  zu  Martrern  uns  erkoren,  der  zur  Hermannsthat  uns  raft, 

Zur  Sankt-Georgenthat  uns  rufl ! 

Hurrah  !  hurrah  !  hurrah  ! 

Freiheitshimmel,roth  von  Jugendwonnen, 

Du,  mil  deinem  Blau  allewig  neu  ! 

Keine  Nacht  loscht  deine  Sonnen, denn  kein  Tod  loscht  Laeb  und  Treu : 

Mannertreue,  Bundestreue ! 

Wohlan  !  wohlan !  wohlan  ! 

Freiheitsbund!  vor  trage  deinem  Volke, 

Deiner  Zeit  das  Freiheitsbanner  ktlhn, 

Aus  dir  freie  Donnerwolke  !  soil  das  Siegskreuz  Gottes  gliihn 

Soil  ein  neues  Reich  erblilhn 

Hinan  !  hinan  !  hinan  ! 

51* 


606  ATPENDIX. 


UNION  SONG  OF  THE  SWISS  AT  THE  RUTLI. 

SOUND  !  ye  bells  of  this  firm  tower, 
Brother  voices,  ring  out  loudly  ! 
Sound  in  woe  the  storm  of  song, 
Rise,  freedom's  flames,  heavenwards ! 
Flames  of  union,  rise  to  heaven  ! 

Come  on  !  Come  on  !  Come  on  ! 

Praise  to  Thee,  High  Rock  and  Saviour, 
Who  hast  free  and  happy  made  us, —  Father  ! 
Thy  lightnings  and  thy  sacred  banner 
Light  us  on  in  might  and  battle, 
When  Zwinghri  crackles  down  ! 

Hurrah  !  Hurrah  !  Hurrah  ! 

Rise  !  pillars  of  one  brother-temple, 
Guard  your  people's  altar  flame  ! 
Fountains  of  one  freedom-river, 
Overthrow  the  dams  of  sin  ! 
And  of  tyrants  the  whole  race  ! 
Arise  !  Arise !  Arise ! 

Yes,  by  God  and  Fatherland  !  will  we 
Destroy  the  last  trace  of  the  tyrant ; 
For  right,  for  freedom  gladly  die, 
If  for  the  people  freedom  lives. 
God  hear  our  oath  of  union  ! 

Give  ear !  Give  ear  !  Give  ear  ! 

In  ancient  pomp  the  people's  sun 

Shall  dawn  from  our  blood's  morning-red  ! 

In  the  kingdom's  starry  glory 

Rise  from  the  night  of  our  death ; 

A  free  state,  God's  power,  a  nation  ! 

On  high  !  On  high  !  On  high  ! 

From  our  martyr-crown  of  thorns 
Bloom  roses  for  our  fatherland. 


APPENDIX  607 

Freedom  shall  reward  free  souls  ; 
Therefore,  brothers  !  hand  in  hand 
Follow  freedom's  holy  brand  ! 

Go  on  !  Go  on  !  Go  on ! 

Hail,  brother  bond,  that  we  have  sworn  ! 
Hail,  freedom's  cradle  !  tyrants'  grave  ! 
Who  has  chosen  us  for  martyrs, 
Who  to  Hermann's  acts  now  calls  us, 
He  bids  us  do  St.  George's  deeds  ! 

Hurrah!  Hurrah!  Hurrah! 

Freedom's  heaven,  red  with  youthful  fire, 

In  thine  azure  ever  new  ! 

No  night  extinguishes  thy  suns, 

For  no  death  quenches  love  and  truth ; 

Manly  truth,  and  plighted  truth! 

Speed  on  !  Speed  on  !  Speed  on ! 

Freedom-union  !  bear  before  thy  people 
The  freedom-banner  bravely  in  thy  day. 
From  thee,  thou  thunder-cloud  of  freedom  ! 
The  victory-cross  of  God  shall  shine, 
And  a  youthful  realm  shall  bloom  ! 
Arise  !  Arise  !   Arise  ! 


BUNDESLIED  (DER  MIT  EGMONT  VERSCHWORNEN 
NIEDERLANDER.) 

Augen  glanzen,  Herzen  glQhn  hoch  zur  Bundesfeier  ; 

Wie  die  geist'gen  Funken  spruhn  !  auf  Gesang !  entfulte  kdlm 

Alle  Herzensschleier. 

Wer  sein  selber  ist  bewusst,  sieht  die  Welt  entsiegelt; 

Drum  in  uns  strahlt  Himmelslust :  wie  des  Meers  tiefreine  Brust 

Stern  und  Himmel  spiegelt. 


608  APPENDIX. 

Brich ,  o  Welt !  in  Trtlmmern  gleich  Ober  uns  zusammen : 

Wir  stehn  muthig,  nimmerbleich,  fester  als  Stahl,  Fels  und  Eich' 

Mitten  in  den  Flammen. 

Fflrsten  !  eure  Gauklerkvmst  spielt  auf  mtlrben  Brettern ; 
Gotzengroll  und  Hoflingsgunst :  das  zerfleugt  wie  Dampf  und  Dunst 
In  der  Freiheit  Wettern  ! 

Nach  der  Freiheit  wetzt  die  Brut  stets  ihr  Henkersmesser ; 
Nicht  des  Volkes  Gut  und  Blut  stillt  des  Hollenhurigers  Glut 
Euch,  ihr  Seelenfresser ! 

Freiheit  ruht,  wie  Sonnenschein,  mild  auf  Seengenshalmen; 
Gott  spricht:  Ja  !  ihr  aber  :  Nein !  bis  Er  fahrt  im  Donnerschein, 
All'  euch  zu  zermalmen  ! 

Wie  die  Becher  dieser  Nacht,  Brflder !  so  soil  glflhen 

Unser  Bundesschwerd  mit  Macht,  wann  in  blut'ger  Lockenpracht 

Berge  Flammen  sprtlhen ! 

Tells  und  Hermanns  Heldenspur  wandeln  wir  aufs  neue  ; 
Was  auf  Rutli's  Felsenflur,  was  auf  Teutoburg  man  schwur, 
Schworen  wir  in  Treue  ! 

Eidgenossen  !  Hand  in  Hand  schlaget  ein  zum  Bunde  ! 
So  schling'  um  das  Vaterland  Gott  ein  heilig  Liebesband, 
Segn'  auch  diese  Stunde  ! 

UNION  SONG  OF  THE  NETHERLANDERS, 

ENGAGED  IN  THE  CONSPIRACY  OF  EGMONT. 

EYES  are  glistening,  hearts  beat  high,  at  the  feast  of  union. 
How  the  spirit's  rajs  are  darting  !  Rise,  O  song,  and  bravely  lift 
All  veils  from  every  heart. 

Whosoever  knows  himself,  sees  the  world  unsealed  ; 

Hence  in  us  beams  Heaven's  joy  ;  as  the  pure  deep  ocean's  breast 

Mirrors  stars  and  heaven. 


APPENDIX.  609 

Break,  O  world,  in  ruins  straight  over  us !     Together 

We  stand  bravely,  ne'er  turn  pale,  firm  as  steel,  or  rock,  or  oak, 

In  the  midst  of  flames  ! 

Princes  !  all  your  juggler-arts  are  played  on  rotten  boards  ; 
Idols'  hatred,  courtiers'  favor,  pass  away  like  smoke  and  vapor, 
In  the  storm  of  freedom  ! 

After  freedom,  still  that  brood  ever  whet  their  hangman  knives ; 
Nor  does  the  people's  good  or  blood,  sate  your  hellish  hunger's  rage 
You,  ye  soul-devourers ! 

Freedom  falls  as  sunshine  does,  gently  on  the  blades  of  corn, 
God  says,  Yea  !  but  ye  say,  Nay  !  till  he  in  his  thunder  comes 
To  crush  ye  every  one. 

Like  the  goblets  of  this  night,  brothers !  so  shall  glisten 

Our  united  swords  with  might,  when  in  bloody  splendor  curling 

Mountain  flames  are  rising  ! 

Tell's  and  Hermann's  hero  steps  we  will  tread  anew; 
What  on  Ratli's  rocky  shore,  what  at  Teutoburg,  we  swore, 
That  we  swear  in  truth  ! 

Now,  confederates  !  hand  in  hand,  join  in  our  alliance ! 
So  around  our  fatherland,  may  God  cast  a  holy  band 
Of  love,  and  bless  this  hour ! 


KORNERS  TODTENFEIER. 

Unterm  Klang  der  Kriegeshorner 
Riefen  Engelstimmen  :  "  Korner  !  " 
Und  das  Heldenherze  bricht. 
Herzen,  Augen,  brecht  in  Zahren  ! 
Eure  Zahren  wird  verklaren 
Hohen  Glaubens  Freudenlicht. 


610  APPENDIX. 

Deutschland,  dem  du  treu  verbunden, 
Fflhlt,  o  Bruder,  deine  Wunden, 
Blutet  mit  und  —  freuet  sich ! 
Bist  ein  Konig,  hochbeneidet, 
Deines  Blutes  Purpur  kleidet, 
Heil'ge  Dornen  kronen  dich. 

Wenn  die  Saiten  langst  zersprungen, 
Lebt  das  Lied  auf  alien  Zungen, 
Lebt  unsterblich  im  Gemitth. 
Nur  des  Lebens  Licht  verdunkelt, 
Doch  der  Stern  der  Liebe  funkelt, 
Bis  im  Lichtmeer  er  verglQht. 

Jesu,  reine  Gottesminne, 

Eine  unsres  Volkes  Sinne 

Jn  der  Liebe  Heil'genglanz ! 

Lass  auch  uns,  nach  heissen  Muhen, 

Einst  wie  unsrem  Bruder  blahen 

Dornenkron  and  Sternenkranz ! 


KORNER'S  FUNERAL  SONG. 

'MiDST  the  sounding  war-horn's  clangor, 
An  angel  voice  is  calling  "  Korner," 

And  the  hero's  heart  has  broke. 
Hearts  and  eyes  o'erflow  with  weeping  ! 
Yet  high  faith,  with  light  rejoicing, 

Shall  illumine  our  tears. 

Germany,  thou  lovedsl  so  truly, 
Feels,  O  brother,  all  thy  wounds  ! 

Bleeds  with  thee  and  yet  rejoices  ! 
King  thou  art,  and  highly  envied  ; 
Thy  purple  blood  thy  mantle  is, 

Holy  thorns  thy  diadem. 


APPENDIX. 

Though  the  music-strings  be  broken, 
On  every  tongue  the  song  is  living, 

Lives  immortal  in  the  soul. 
Though  the  light  of  life  be  fading, 
Still  the  star  of  love  is  shining, 

Nor  sets  but  in  a  sea  of  light.  * 

Jesus  !  thou  pure  love  of  God, 
Unite  the  hearts  of  all  our  people, 

In  the  holy  bonds  of  love  ! 
Grant  that,  after  earnest  striving, 
May  bloom  for  us,  as  for  our  brother, 

Crowns  of  thorns  and  wreaths  of  stars. 


THE  LAST  HOPE. 

This,  and  the  following  poem,  by  Korner,  were  translated  by  Dr.  Follen  in 
the  autumn  of  1839,  at  Lexington.  This  was  the  last  poetry  he  ever 
wrote. 

WHY  knit  ye  the  brow,  so  stern  and  so  dark, 
Why  stare  at  the  night  so  wild  and  so  stark, 

Brave  spirits,  who  never  should  tremble  ? 
The  storm  is  howling,  and  heaving  the  tide, 
The  earth  is  reeling  on  every  side  ; 

Our  trouble  we  will  not  dissemble. 

The  fires  of  hell  are  rising  again, 

Much  generous  blood  has  been  lavished  in  vain, 

Still  the  wicked,  the  powerful,  glory. 
But  never  despair;  your  help  is  in  God; 
Not  in  vain  the  beginning  is  crimsoned  with  blood  j 

'T  is  the  day-star  that  rises  so  gory. 

*  When  Dr.  Follen  published  this  poem  in  his  "  Reader,"  he  omitted 
the  third  verse,  as  it  was  in  the  "  Freye  Stimmen  frischer  Jugend,"  and 
substituted  the  one  here  given  in  its  place. 


612  APPENDIX. 

If  once  there  was  need  of  courage  and  might, 
Now  gather  all  courage  and  strength  for  the  fight, 

Lest  the  ship  in  the  haven  yet  perish. 
The  tiger  is  crouching  ;  ye  young  men,  awake  ! 
Ye  old  men,  to  arms  !  my  countrymen,  break 

From  the  slumbers  of  death,  which  you  cherish  ! 

What  avails  it  to  live,  if  liberty  fall  ? 
What  is  there  so  dear  in  this  Infinite  All, 

As  our  own  mother  country,  that  bore  us  ? 
We  '11  free  our  dear  country,  or  hasten  our  way 
To  the  free,  happy  fathers  ;  — yes,  happy  are  they 

Who  have  died  in  the  struggle  before  us. 

Then  howl  on,  ye  storms,  and  roll  on,  thou  tide, 
And  tremble  old  earth,  on  every  side  ! 

Our  free  spirits  bid  you  defiance. 
The  earth  that  we  tread  on  beneath  us  may  sink  ; 
As  freemen  we  '11  stand,  and  never  will  shrink  ;  — 

With  our  blood  we  will  seal  our  alliance. 
• 

** 


FAREWELL   TO  LIFE. 

Lines  written  by  Korner,  when  he  lay  dangerously  wounded  and  helpless, 
in  a  forest,  expecting  to  die. 

THIS  smarting  wound,  —  these  lips  so  pale  and  chill  !  — 

My  heart,  with  faint  and  fainter  beating,  says, 

I  stand  upon  the  borders  of  my  days. 
Amen  !  my  God,  I  own  thy  holy  will. 
The  golden  dreams,  that  once  my  soul  did  fill, 

The  songs  of  mirth,  become  sepulchral  lays. 

Faith  !  faith  !  That  truth  which  all  my  spirit  sways, 
Yonder,  as  here,  must  live  within  me  still. 
And  what  I  held  as  sacred  here  below, 

What  I  embraced  with  quick  and  youthful  glow, 


APPENDIX.  613 

Whether  I  called  it  liberty,  or  love, 

A  seraph  bright  I  see  it  stand  above  ; 
And,  as  my  senses  slowly  pass  away, 

A  breath  transports  me  to  the  realms  of  day. 


No.  II. 

PRAYERS. 

FOR  SUNDAY  MORNING. 

OCR  daily  labor,  our  common  cares  and  amusements,  have  ceased  ; 
they  have  given  way  to  holier  exertions  and  better  enjoyments,  the 
sacred  duties  of  the  Sabbath.  The  work  of  our  hands  is  subject  to 
the  law  of  this  day ;  God  grant  that  its  spirit  may  reign  in  our  hearts 
and  penetrate  our  lives ;  that,  through  faithful  exertion  and  devout 
aspiration,  we  may  render  ourselves  worthy  of  that  eternal  Sabbath, 
which  the  Saviour  of  the  world  will  celebrate  with  his  friends  in  the 
house  of  his  Father  and  our  Father.  Amen. 

WE  thank  thee,  O  our  heavenly  Father,  for  the  return  of  this  solemn 
day,  which  brings  us  together  to  offer  to  Thee  our  united  prayers 
and  praises,  to  contemplate  Thee  in  thy  wonderful  works,  and  in  thy 
Holy  Word.  We  thank  Thee  for  thy  guardian  care  over  us  dur- 
ing the  past  week;  and  now,  that  the  work  of  our  hands  has  ceased, 
in  obedience  to  the  law  of  this  thy  day,  grant  that  its  spirit  may  reign 
in  our  hearts.  We  bless  Thee,  O  Father,  that  thou  hast  sent  thy  be- 
loved Son  to  thy  erring  human  family,  who  has  revealed  to  us  thy 
truth  and  thy  will,  and  has  promised  to  be  in  the  midst  of  those  who 
are  assembled  in  thy  name. 

Grant,  O  God,  that  his  spirit  may  now  be  in  the  midst  of  us,  that 
with  him  we  may  draw  nigh  unto  Thee  and  rejoice  in  thy  glory. 
Amen. 

OUR  Father  in  Heaven,  we  thank  Thee  for  the  light  of  this  thy  day. 
We  gratefully  acknowledge,  that  Thou  hast  been  with  us  in  our  la- 
bors, cares,  and  recreations  during  the  last  week.  Be  with  us,  we  be- 

VOL.  i.  52 


614  APPENDIX. 

seech  Thee,  in  the  services  now  before  us  ;  may  they  be  conducted 
according  to  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  gospel  of  thy  Son ;  may 
they  be  aided  and  directed  by  thy  holy  spirit.  Amen. 

OUR  souls  rise  to  Thee,  the  Father  of  light  and  love.  We  thank 
Thee,  that  thou  hast  opened  our  mortal  eyes  to  see  thy  wonderful 
works.  We  bless  Thee,  that  thou  hast  poured  light  upon  the  eye 
of  the  mind,  to  behold  and  enjoy  the  glories  of  thy  love.  We  thank 
Thee,  that  thou  hast  granted  to  the  pure  in  heart  to  see  Thee. 

Thou,  O  God,  hast  formed  every  human  mind  to  be  a  pure  and  true 
mirror  of  Thyself;  but  we,  O  God,  have  troubled  and  sullied  it  by 
earthly  passions,  and  rendered  it  unfit  for  reflecting  Thee,  the  God  of 
infinite  purity.  The  earth  has  not  strayed  from  its  appointed  path 
round  the  sun,  but  we  the  children  of  the  earth,  ay,  the  children  of 
light,  have  turned  from  the  path  of  light  and  strayed  from  the  sun  of 
truth  and  holiness.  Father,  we  would  come  to  Thee  as  thy  children, 
but  oh,  we  stand  convicted,  by  our  life  and  our  hearts,  that  we  have 
sinned  against  heaven  and  before  Thee,  and  are  no  more  worthy  to  be 
called  thy  children.  Father,  we  would  ask  the  pardon  of  our  sins;  but, 
alas,  we  have  so  often  asked  and  received  forgiveness,  and  again  sin- 
ned, that  it  has  become  a  mere  form  to  us.  Father,  send  down  thy 
reproving  Spirit,  to  arouse  within  us  the  consciousness  of  our  guilt, 
and  that  we  have  so  often  slighted  the  hand  which  is  always  stretched 
out  to  save  us. 

WE  desire  to  draw  nigh  unto  Thee,  O  God  ;  we  pray  for  thy  pres- 
ence in  this  worshipping  assembly,  in  the  sanctuary  of  each  soul  that 
longs  to  commune  with  Thee,  our  Creator,  our  Guardian,  our  best 
and  dearest  Friend. 

We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  the  paternal  care  that  thou  hast  exert- 
ed over  us  from  infancy  ;  we  fervently  thank  Thee  for  the  rich  gifts 
and  innumerable  blessings  thou  hast  bestowed  upon  us.  We  praise 
Thee  for  the  light  of  reason,  by  which  thou  hast  enabled  us  to  find 
Thee  in  the  works  of  nature ;  to  discover  in  the  smallest,  as  well  as  in 
the  greatest  objects  and  events,  the  traces  of  thy  power,  thy  wisdom, 
and  thy  love.  We  thank  Thee,  Father,  for  that  still  more  glorious 
light,  which  thou  hast  made  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good  in  thy 
Holy  Word,  which  thou  hast  sent  us  by  thy  people  of  old,  and  finally 
by  thy  dear  Son,  who  has  taught  us  to  seek  Thee  in  prayer. 


APPENDIX.  615 

Bless  the  Pastor  of  this  religious  society  ;  grant  him  the  sweet  re- 
ward  of  his  faithful  exertions  to  see  thy  work  prosper  in  his  hands,  to 
behold  the  fruits  of  righteousness  and  piety,  which  his  labors  are  in- 
tended to  produce.  Bless  the  people,  who  are  the  objects  of  his  care. 
May  they  faithfully  use  all  the  means  of  religious  improvement,  which 
are  offered  to  them  by  thy  kind  providence.  Assist  them  in  their 
endeavours  to  provide  for  themselves  and  their  families ;  may  they  see 
a  brother  in  every  fellow-being  that  needs  their  assistance.  Aid  and 
guide  them,  O  Father,  in  the  education  of  their  children ;  may  they 
learn  to  know  and  to  love  Thee,  through  the  gospel  of  thy  beloved  Son. 
Bless  all  our  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning,  in  which  the  young 
are  educated  for  extensive  usefulness  to  society;  bless  the  churches 
of  Christ,  in  which  all  men  are  trained  up  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
We  thank  Thee,  O  God,  for  the  blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
which  we  enjoy  in  this  country.  May  we  render  ourselves  more  and 
more  worthy  of  inestimable  blessings,  that  this  country  may  be  an 
example  to  other  nations,  that  where  political  freedom  is  most  fully 
established,  the  laws  are  most  strictly  observed  ;  and  that  where  reli- 
gious liberty  prevails,  the  interest  in  religion  is  most  deeply  felt,  and 
most  clearly  manifested  in  piety  and  good  works. 

PART  OF  A  PRAYER  FOR  THE  STUDENTS,  AT  THE  COLLEGE  CHAPEL. 

AWAKEN  in  them  that  divine  ambition,  which  is  satisfied  with  no 
degree  of  excellence  short  of  perfection.  Excite  in  them  a  thirst  for 
knowledge,  and  grant  that  it  may  lead  them  to  the  waters  of  eternal 
life.  Arouse  in  them  the  spirit  of  study,  that  spirit  which  rises  above 
poverty  and  a  mean  education  ;  which  surmounts  all  obstacles  in 
climbing  the  lofty  path  of  icience,  and  elicits  sparks  of  truth  from  the 
hardest  subjects. 

Teach  them,  that  the  highest  freedom  consists  in  the  most  lasting 
and  the  most  extensive  usefulness;  in  self-denial,  in  devotion  to  our 
calling,  in  holy  fortitude,  and  cheerful  obedience  to  the  best  and  high- 
est will. 

We  thank  Thee,  especially,  Father,  for  the  gift  of  Him  in  whom 
there  was  no  sin,  no  variableness  or  shadow  of  turning,  from  that  bless- 
ed hour,  when  angels  announced  the  birth  of  the  true  Shepherd,  to 
that  hour  of  transcendent  glory,  when  angels  declared  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 


616  APPENDIX. 


PRAYER  WRITTEN  FOR  THE  CHILDREN  OF  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  IN 
CAMBRIDGE. 

OUR  Father  in  heaven,  our  constant  and  our  best  friend  !  We  love 
Thee  and  adore  Thee  from  our  hearts.  Thou  hearest  our  prayer. 
Thou  seest  us  always,  at  home  and  in  school,  in  our  studies  and  our 
plays.  Thou  watchest  over  us  night  and  day.  Thou  hast  given 
us  life  and  health  and  our  daily  bread.  Thou  hast  given  us  ten- 
der parents,  kind  teachers,  pleasant  and  faithful  friends.  Thou  hast 
sent  Jesus,  thy  beloved  Son,  to  teach  us  thy  will,  to  show  us  the 
way  to  heaven  and  to  Thee.  O  God,  thou  hast  loved  us  while  we 
were  very  small  and  not  yet  able  to  love  Thee  ;  O  God,  thou  hast 
loved  us  while  we  were  ungrateful  and  not  worthy  of  thy  love.  O 
make  us  truly  sorry  for  our  sins,  for  our  disobedience  to  our  parents, 
and  unkindness  to  our  friends,  for  inattention  at  school,  and  in  the 
house  of  G  od. 

O  Thou,  who  lovest  all  thy  children,  we  desire  to  be  worthy  of  thy 
love.  Keep  us  from  harm,  save  us  from  sin.  Give  us  a  grateful 
mind  and  an  understanding  heart.  Father,  thou  hast  given  us  a  hap- 
py home  here  on  earth.  Father,  when  we  die,  give  us  a  home  in 
heaven,  with  thy  dear  Son  and  with  all  our  friends,  that  we  may  live 
with  Thee  and  love  Thee  for  ever.  Amen. 

UPON  THE  DEATH  OF  ONE  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

FATHER,  we  thank  Thee  that  thou  hast  implanted  in  us  the  princi- 
ple of  love  ;  of  love  to  our  families,  our  country,  to  the  whole  family 
of  man.  We  thank  Thee,  that  thou  hast  established  a  relationship 
among  all  men,  by  which  they  are  enabled  and  moved  to  sympathize 
with  one  another. 

Grant  that  we  may  improve  by  the  teachings  of  thy  providence. 
Our  eyes  now  seek  in  vain,  in  this  whole  land  of  the  living,  one  who 
once  used  to  meet  with  us  in  this  house ;  but  our  minds  rest  satisfied, 
that  we  shall  find  him  in  that  house  of  praise  and  prayer,  which  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  has  gone  to  prepare  for  those  who  love  him. 


APPENDIX.  617 

No.   III. 
VOTES 

OF    THE    CORPORATION    OF     HARVARD    COLLEGE. 

AT  a  meeting  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of  Harvard  College,  a 
letter  of  Mr.  Duponceau  to  Mr.  Ticknor,  signifying  Professor  Pollen's 
assent  to  the  conditional  proposal  made  to  him,  in  behalf  of  the  Cor- 
poration, to  be  an  instructor  in  German  at  the  University,  was  com- 
municated ;  whereupon  it  was  voted, 

That  if  the  Overseers  concur  in  the  vote  of  the  Corporation  re- 
specting this  department,  the  President  be  authorized  to  engage  Dr. 
Follen  on  the  following  conditions  : 

1 .  Dr.  Pollen  is  to  have  his  residence  in  Cambridge,  and  give  in- 
struction in  German  for  three  days  in  the  week,  to  such  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  University  as  the  Corporation  shall  point  out.     If  the  in- 
struction in  German  shall  not  occupy  the  fair  proportion  of  time  of 
these  three  days,  he  will  be  expected  to  give  instruction  in  some  other 
branch  which  he  can  teach. 

2.  He  may  give  lectures  at  the  Law  School,  making  such  charges 
as  he  may  see  fit,  with  the  assent  of  the  Corporation. 

3.  His  salary  shall   begin  from  the   time    of  his  acceptance  of  this 
offer,  viz.  five  hundred  dollars  a  year,  paid  quarterly. 

N.  B.  The  time  of  the  continuance  of  this  engagement  is  left  to 
the  will  of  the  parties,  it  being  understood  that,  in  case  either  shall  be 
dissatisfied,  reasonable  notice  be  given. 

JOHN  T.  KIRKLAND,  President. 

TO    MR.    TICKNOR. 
MR.  PROFESSOR  TICKNOR, 

DEAR  SIR,  The  Overseers  having  concurred  in  the  vote  of  the  Cor- 
poration mentioned  above,  relating  to  the  department  of  foreign  lan- 
guages, I  request  Professor  Pollen  to  undertake  the  office  of  instructor 
in  German,  on  the  conditions  stated,  and  ask  you  to  do  me  the  favor 
to  communicate  with  him,  on  the  subject,  in  my  behalf. 
With  great  consideration, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  T.  KIRKLAND, 
November  19th,  1825.  Pres.  of  Harvard  Umvtrsity. 

52* 


618  APPENDIX. 

No.  IV. 
SUMMARY  OF  A  COURSE  OF  LECTURES 

ON 

THE  CIVIL  LAW. 

BY  CHARLES  FOLLEN,  J.  U.  D. 


INTRODUCTION. 

General  view  of  the  science  of  Law.  Natural  and  Positive  Law. 
Comparative  importance  of  the  different  philosophical  and  historical 
branches  of  Jurisprudence.  Reasons  which  recommend  the  Civil 
Law  to  the  study  of  every  lawyer,  and  in  this  country  in  particular. 
Outline  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  Civil  Law.  Its  vindica- 
tion against  the  aspersion  of  favoring  despotism. 

Precise  object  of  these  Lectures  ;  the  Civil  Law  contained  in  the 
Code  of  the  Emperor  Justinian,  with  as  much  of  its  history,  as  is  ne- 
cessary to  explain  its  practical  principles ;  and  adding  the  most  impor- 
tant modifications  it  has  received  in  modern  times,  particularly  by  the 
Canon  Law.  Those  parts  of  the  Civil  Law,  which  are  of  practical 
application  in  this  country,  are  to  be  explained  in  their  details ;  of  all 
its  other  doctrines  only  the  leading  principles,  which  may  impart  a 
clear  idea  of  the  whole,  will  be  noticed. 

History  of  the  Civil  Law.  The  Roman  Law  the  growth  of  one 
thousand  years,  from  the  Code  of  the  Twelve  Tables  to  that  of  Jus- 
tinian. Its  gradual  progress,  and  different  periods.  Code  of  Jus- 
tinian, its  contents  and  arrangement ;  —  modes  of  quotation,  and  dif- 
ferent editions.  Treatises  on  the  Civil  Law.  Its  introduction  into 
the  modern  kingdoms  of  Europe  ;  its  relation  to  the  Canon  Law,  and 
other  modern  European  laws  and  customs. 

Order  in  which  the  Civil  Law  is  to  be  explained.  Advantages  of 
the  new  division  of  the  Civil  Law,  by  Heise,  into  two  parts,  a  general 
and  a  special,  the  former  containing  the  elementary  principles,  the 
latter  the  details. 


APPENDIX.  619 


ELEMENTARY    PART. 

TIT.  I.  —  Of  the  Laws,  the  sources  of  rights. 

Chap.  1.  Of  the  written  law,  or  acts  of  legislature.  Different 
species  of  statutes.  Of  their  creation  and  termination.  Interpreta- 
tion and  analogy.  Of  the  extent  and  preference  existing  among  dif- 
ferent laws. 

Chap.  2.     Of  the  unwritten  or  customary  laws. 
TIT.  II.  —  Of  the  oicners  and  objects  of  rights. 

Chap.  I.     Of  Persons,  natural  and  fictitious  (corporations.) 
Chap.  2.     Of  Things. 
Chap.  3.     Of  Actions. 

Sect.  1.  Of  legal  transactions  of  private  persons.  Legal  requi- 
sites in  regard  to  the  transacting  persons,  and  the  objects  of  the 
transaction.  Interpretation,  and  necessary  proofs.  Influence 
upon  other  persons.  Corroborating  acts ;  Oath,  and  Advance- 
money.  Influence  of  error,  force,  and  fraud  upon  legal  trans- 
actions. 

Sect.  2.  Of  illegal  acts  ;  culpa. 

Chap.  4.     Of  time  and  space  in  their  legal  view.     Civil  computa- 
tion of  time.     Presence  and  absence.     Domicil. 
Chap.  5.    Accessory  objects  of  rights.     Appurtenances,  Produce, 

Interests,  Damage  and  Profit,  Expenses,  Accounts,  Inventory. 
TIT.  III. —  Of  Rights.     Their  nature,  the  causes  of  their  existence, 
termination,  and  transition  to  other  persons.     Contrariety  of 
Rights. 

TIT.  IV.  —  Of  the  means  of  maintaining  riglits;  by  Self-defence  and 
by  Judicial  proceedings. 

SPECIAL    PART. 
BOOK  I.  —  RIGHTS  TO  THINGS. 

INTRODUCTION.  —  Of  the  different  species  of  titles  to  things,  as  Pos- 
session, Property,  and  Rights  on  the  property  of  others  (jura  in  re 
aliena),  viz.  Services,  Building  lease  (superficies'),  Emphyteusis,  and 
Pledges. 

TIT.  I.  —  Possession. 
TIT.  II.  — Property. 


620  APPENDIX. 

Chap.  1.    Modes  of  acquiring  property  : 

Sect.  1.  By  the  law  (lege),  without  regard  to  other  property  or 

acts  of  the  acquirer. 

Sect.  2.  On  account  of  other  property  of  the  acquirer  (beneficio 
rei  nostrai),  as  the  produce  of  his  estates,  alluvion  and  commix- 
tion. 

Sect.  3.  By  acts  of  the  acquirer  only.  Occupancy  and  Prescrip- 
tion. 

Sect.  4.  By  combined  acts  of  the  disposer  and  acquirer.  Deliv- 
ery (traditio). 

Chap.  2.     Modes  of  termination  of  Property. 
Chap.  3.     Legal  Remedies;  Reivindicatiota.n.d  actio  Publiciana. 
TIT.  III.  —  Of  Services. 

Chap.  1.  Nature,  and  different  species. 

Chap.  2.     Services  due  to  real  estates,  relating  either  to  lands  or  to 

buildings  (servitutes  rustics  et  urbanae). 

Chap.  3.     Services  due  to  individuals  (personates).     Usufruct. 
Chap.  4.     Of  the  possession  of  services,  and   the  causes  of  their 

existence  and  termination. 

Chap  5.      Actions  concerning  services  ;  confessoria  and  negatoria. 
TIT.  IV.  —  Building  Lease. 
TIT.  V.  —  Emphyteusis. 
TIT.  VI.— Of  Pledges. 

BOOK  II.  —  OF  OBLIGATIONS. 

INTRODUCTION.  —  Of  the  nature  and  different  sorts  of  Obligations 
and  of  the  different  causes  from  which  they  arise,  viz.  Promises,  Of- 
fences, and  Analogous  Cases  (varia  causarum  figured), 
TIT.  I.  —  Of  Promises  in  general,  being  either  Pollicitations  or  Com- 
pacts. 

TIT.  II.  —  Of  Pollicitations  or  unaccepted  promises. 
TIT.  III.  —  Of  Compacts.     General   Principles.     Roman  distinction 
between  Pacta  and  Contraclus,  antiquated.    General  principles 
of  compacts  or  contracts. 

TIT.  IV. — '  Roman  division  of  contracts  into  real,  verbal,  literal,  and 
consensual,  antiquated.  All  covenants  to  be  divided  into  prin- 
cipal  and  accessory.  The  principal  contracts  to  be  divided  ac- 
cording to  their  implying  obligations  for  both  parties,  or  but  for 


APPENDIX.  621 

one  of  them,  and  to  be  subdivided  in  regard  to  their  object, 
which  consists  either  in  transferring  property  (Dare),  or  the 
use  of  things  (Preestare),  or  acts  (Facere). 

TIT.  V.  —  Principal  contracts  containing  obligations  upon  both  par- 
ties. 

Chap.  1.     Covenants,  whose  object  is  to  confer  property  on  both 

sides.    Exchange.   Loan  for  consumption  (Pactum  de  mutuando). 

Chap.  2.     Covenants,  whose  object  is  to  convey  properly  on  one 

side,  and  the  use  of  things  on  the  other.     Contract  of  hiring 

things  (locatio  conductio  rei). 

Chap.  3.     Covenants,  whose  object  is  to  convey  property  on  one 
side,  and  to  perform  certain  acts  on  the  other.    The  contract 
of  hiring  persons  for  certain  services  (locatio   conductio  opera- 
rum  et  open's).     Sale   (emptio  venditio).     Obligation  of  the  ven- 
der to  answer  for  all  imperceptible  defects  of  the  articles  sold. 
Chap.  4.  Covenants,  to  procure  the  use  of  things  on  both  sides. 
Chap.  5.     Covenants,  whose  object  is  the  use  of  things  on  one  side, 

and  certain  acts  on  the  other.     Loan  for  use  (Cornmodatum). 
Chap.  6.     Covenants,  whose  objects  are  certain  acts  on  both  sides. 
Chap.  7.     Covenants,  whose  objects  on  either  side  may  be  to  con- 
vey property,  or  to  grant  the  use  of  certain  things,  or  to  per- 
form certain  acts.     Partnership  (societas). 
TIT.  VI.  —  Contracts  which  imply  an  obligation  only  for  one  party  ; 

whose  object  may  be  : 

Chap.  1 .     The  conveyance  of  property.    Donation. 
Chap.  2.     The  use  of  things.     Pactum  de  commodando. 
Chap.  3.     Certain   acts.      Commission    (mandatum   et   depositum). 
Contract  with  a  broker  (contractus  (Bstimatorius,  implying  either 
commission  or  sale). 
TIT.  VII.  —  Accessory  contracts.      Surety.     Contract   of  Pledging. 

Lex  commissoria.    Pactum  de  retrovendendo,  etc. 
TIT.  VIII.  —  Second  principal  cause  of  Obligations,  Offences. 

Chap.  1.     Nature  and  different  species  of  private  offences.    Injuria. 

Damnum  injuria  datum,     Furtum.     Rapina.     Spolium. 
Chap.  2.     Of  the  Praetorian  interdicta  against  disturbing  persons  in 

their  possession. 

TIT.  IX.  —  Third  principal  cause  of  obligations,  Analogous  Cases. 
Chap.  1.     Obligations  arising  from  negotiorum  gestio,  and  unprom- 
ised  services  rendered. 


622  APPENDIX. 

Chap.  2.  Obligations  arising  from  common  possession,  and  the 
confusion  of  the  boundaries  of  adjoining  lands.  (Judicia  corn- 
muni  dividendo). 

Chap.  3.  Obligations  of  shipmasters  and  landlords  with  respect  to 
things  received. 

Chap.  4.     Lex  Rhodia  de  jactu. 

Chap.  5.  Actio  de  pauperie  et  de  pastu.  Actio  de  effusis  vd  de- 
jectis. 

Chap.  6.  Caution  against  damage  threatened  by  adjoining  build- 
ings (de  damno  infccto"),  and  by  rain  water  (actio  aqua  pluvice 
arcenda,). 

Chap.  7.  Obligation  of  being  witness,  exhibiting  documents,  and 
obeying  a  final  decision. 

Chap.  8.    Obligation  to  return  things  possessed  without  a  sufficient 
title.     (Condictio  indeliti,  ob  turpem  vel  injustam  caitsam,  et  sine 
causa.) 
TIT.  X.  —  Of  the  termination  of  obligations. 

Chap.  1.     Of  payment. 

Chap.  2.     Of  compensation. 

Chap.  3.     Of  depositing  in  Court. 

Chap.  4.     Of  mutual  agreement. 

Chap.  5.     Compromise. 

Chap.  6.    Novation. 

Chap.  7.  The  right  of  the  creditor,  and  the  duty  of  the  debtor 
being  united  in  the  same  person. 

Chap.  8.     Concurrence  of  two  lucrative  causes  of  acquisition. 

Chap.  9.  Termination  of  the  accessory  by  that  of  the  principal  or 
alternative  obligation. 

Chap.  10.     Final  sentence. 

Chap.  11.    Destruction  of  the  object  of  the  obligation  by  accident. 

BOOK  III.  —  FAMILY  RIGHTS. 
Introduction.  —  Of  Relationship  and  Affinity. 
TIT.  I.  —  Husband  and  Wife. 

Chap.  1.  Of  the  nature  and  causes  of  the  existence  and  termina- 
tion of  matrimonial  rights. 

Chap.  2.     Of  the  personal  concerns  between  husband  and  wife. 
Chap.  3.     Of  the  influence  of  matrimony  on  the  possessions  of  the 
married  persons. 


APPENDIX.  623 

TIT.  II.  —  Parent  and  Child. 
TIT.  III.  —  Guardian  and  Ward. 

BOOK  IV.  —  LAW  OF  INHERITANCE. 

Introduction.  —  Of  Inheritance  and  Succession  in  general. 
TIT.  I.  —  Testamentary  succession. 
TIT.  II.  —  Legal  succession. 

TIT  III.  —  Of  legacies  and  donationes  mortis  causa. 
TIT.  IV.  —  Of  the  obligation  of  the  testator  to  provide  for  certain 

persons  in  his  testament. 
TIT.  V.  —  Of  the  acquisition  of  inheritances. 
TIT.  VI.  —  Of  the  legal  remedies  to  obtain  what  is  bequeathed  (He- 

reditatis  petitio,  Quorum  Bonorum,  etc.). 
TIT.  VII.  —  Of  the  causes  which  may  invalidate  last  wills;   of  the 

loss  of  hereditary  rights ;  and  of  bona  vacantia. 

BOOK  V. — RJESTITUTIO  IN  INTEGRUM. 

Introduction.  —  General  Principles. 
TIT.  I.  —  Legal  remedies,  on  account  of  minority,  error,  force,  fraud, 

and  absence. 
TIT.  II.  —  Legal  remedies  for  analogous  cases  (ex  clausula  generali). 


No.  V. 
PLAN  OF  THE  BOSTON  SEMINARY. 

THE  plan  of  a  new  literary  Institution,  to  be  established  in  Boston, 
has  been  suggested  by  a  number  of  parents  and  friends  of  education, 
who  have  felt  the  importance  of  being  able  to  procure  for  their  sons  a 
more  complete  course  of  instruction  than  they  can  now  find  for  them, 
without  sending  them  from  home. 

The  establishment  of  such  an  Institution  in  Boston  seems  desiiable, 
not  only  for  the  inhabitants,  but  also  for  parents  not  residing  in  the 
city,  as  they  can  easily,  in  so  large  a  place,  find  suitable  families,  in 
which  their  sons  may  continue  to  experience  all  the  blessings,  encour- 
agements, and  restraints  of  domestic  life,  while  they  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  a  liberal  education.  This  opportunity  of  uniting  the  benefits 


X 

624  APPENDIX. 

of  domestic  and  public  education  supersedes,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
artificial  system  of  discipline,  which  a  more  isolated  Institution  re- 
quires. Besides  this  general  advantage  belonging  to  a  large  town, 
there  are  many  social,  literary,  and  moral  influences,  which  must 
prove  beneficial  to  a  seminary  of  learning  established  in  Boston. 

It  is  a  leading  object  of  the  Boston  Seminary  to  give  a  liberal  edu- 
cation to  young  men  who  are  not  destined  to  the  professions,  and  who 
do  not  desire  instruction  in  the  ancient  languages.  It  is  indeed  in- 
tended to  furnish  thorough  instruction  in  these  languages  to  all  who 
desire  it ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  Institution  will  afford  as  great 
advantages  to  those  pupils  who  prefer  other  studies,  as  if  it  were  es- 
tablished for  their  benefit  alone. 

The  Seminary  will  afford  sufficient  means  of  instruction  in  all  the 
important  branches  of  a  general,  classical,  and  practical  education. 
The  principal  branches  to  be  taught  in  the  Boston  Seminary  are, — 
Mathematics  and  the  Physical  Sciences,  including  Mechanics, 

Astronomy,  and  Natural  Philosophy. 
The  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages  and  Literature,  viz.  Greek 

and  Latin,  German,  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian. 
History  and  Geography. 
Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy. 
The  evidences  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Religion. 
Composition  and  Elocution. 
Penmanship  and  Book-keeping. 
Drawing. 

The  departments  of  learning  will  be  multiplied  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  pupils  and  the  various  pursuits  for  which  they  may  wish  to 
qualify  themselves. 

There  will  be  four  principal  Teachers  in  whom  the  whole  control 
of  the  Seminary  will  be  vested,  viz.  the  Teacher  of  History  and  Moral 
Philosophy,  the  Teacher  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  the 
Teacher  of  English  Literature  and  Composition,  the  Teacher  of  the 
Ancient  Languages. 

In  each  of  the  four  principal  departments,  such  assistant  Teachers 
will  be  employed  as  the  number  of  scholars  may  require. 

To  the  more  advanced  classes,  Lectures  on  Natural  History  fin- 
eluding  Geology  and  Mineralogy,  Botany,  and  Zoology),  Chemistry, 
Technology,  and  the  Principles  and  History  of  Commerce,  will  be 
delivered  by  competent  teachers. 


APPENDIX.  625 

The  Modern  Languages  will  be  taught  by  natives  of  the  countries 
where  they  are  spoken. 

Writing  and  Book-keeping,  as  well  as  Mathematical  and  Ornamen- 
tal Drawing,  will  be  taught  by  competent  instructers. 

The  Students,  with  the  consent  of  their  parents  or  guardians,  will 
have  a  right  to  choose  what  branches  of  study  they  will  pursue  ;  but 
full  and  steady  employment  will  be  given  them  in  the  studies  they 
may  select. 

They  will  be  carried  on  in  these  branches,  partly  by  regular  in- 
struction, and  partly  by  directing  them  in  a  course  of  private  study  to 
any  extent  they  may  desire. 

In  every  case  in  which  the  studies  to  be  pursued  by  a  pupil  are  not 
determined  by  his  parent  or  guardian,  a  course  of  instruction,  suited 
to  the  capacity  of  the  scholar  and  to  the  employment  for  which  he 
wishes  to  fit  himself,  will  be  marked  out  by  the  Instructers. 

The  students  will  be  carried  forward  according  to  their  talents  and 
industry,  so  that  the  more  advanced  may  not  be  retarded  by  others, 
and  the  less  advanced  may  not  lose  the  benefit  of  elementary  instruc- 
tion. 

There  will  be  no  artificial  system  of  rank,  or  scale  of  merit,  founded 
upon  the  relative  attainments  of  the  students. 

The  elementary  instruction  in  the  Ancient  Languages  and  Mathe- 
matics will  be  such  as  to  fit  the  pupils  for  the  different  classes  of  the 
principal  colleges  in  this  country,  as  well  as  for  prosecuting  the  same 
studies  in  the  Seminary. 

Every  student  who  leaves  the  Seminary  may  obtain  a  general  cer- 
tificate of  his  conduct,  and  a  special  one  for  each  branch  of  study 
which  he  has  pursued  and  finished.  This  special  certificate  shall 
contain  a  statement  of  the  amount  of  knowledge  he  has  evinced  at  a 
previous  strict  examination. 

All  sectarian  or  party  influence  whatever  will  be  strictly  excluded 
from  the  Seminary. 

Admonition  and  Dismission  from  the  Seminary  will  be  the  only 
punishments  for  misconduct. 

There  will  be  two  vacations,  one  in  Summer  of  six  weeks,  and  one 
in  Winter  of  four  weeks. 

The  proper  time  for  entering  the  Institution  is  the  beginning  of 
each  of  the  two  semiannual  terms. 

VOL.   i.  53 


626  APPENDIX. 

No  students  will  be  received  for  a  less  time  than  one  year. 

Every  one  who  wishes  to  leave  the  Institution  is  required  to  give 
notice  three  months  before  the  end  of  the  year ;  otherwise  he  pays  for 
the  following  semiannual  term. 

Terms  for  instruction  in  all  the  branches  taught  in  the  Seminary, 
$  200  a  year.  One  half  of  this  sum  is  to  be  paid  in  advance,  at  the 
beginning  of  each  of  the  semiannual  terms. 

No  pupils  will  be  received  under  twelve  years  of  age. 

The  Teachers  of  the  Seminary  will  assist  parents  who  reside  at  a 
distance,  and  desire  it,  in  finding  suitable  boarding-places  for  their  sons. 

The  Seminary  will  go  into  operation  when  sixty  pupils  are  engaged. 

Jn  order  to  keep  the  community,  and  particularly  the  parents  and 
guardians  of  the  pupils,  fully  acquainted  with  the  proceedings  of  the 
Seminary,  and  in  order  to  give  the  Teachers  continual  opportunity  of 
consulting  the  wishes  of  its  friends,  it  is  proposed  that  those  who  send 
pupils  to  the  Seminary,  or  in  other  ways  promote  its  interests,  should 
appoint  a  Committee  of  Gentlemen,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  visit  the 
Seminary,  and  to  communicate  to  the  principal  Teachers  such  obser- 
vations and  suggestions  as  they  may  think  calculated  to  increase  the 
usefulness  of  the  Institution. 

It  will  be  the  constant  aim  of  the  Teachers  to  exert  a  salutary  moral 
influence  over  their  pupils.  They  will  strive  to  make  the  several 
studies  occasions  of  just  moral  impressions,  as  far  as  their  nature  will 
admit.  They  will  particularly  labor  to  establish  such  relations  be- 
tween themselves  and  their  pupils,  and  such  relations  among  their 
pupils  to  one  another,  and  to  offer  such  motives  to  application,  as  will 
cherish  good  affections,  manly  sentiments,  a  principle  of  justice,  a 
love  of  knowledge  for  its  best  uses,  and  a  desire  to  apply  it  to  the  ser- 
vice of  mankind. 

The  founders  of  this  Institution  rely  on  no  patronage  beyond  what 
may  be  secured  by  their  faithfulness.  It  is  established  wholly  at  their 
own  risk.  They  cannot  therefore  commence  it  without  some  evi- 
dence of  the  disposition  of  the  public  to  sustain  them.  They  have 
thus  thought  fit  to  propose  this  plan  ;  and  request  parents  and  guar- 
dians, who  wish  to  place  pupils  under  their  care,  to  give  notice  by 
subscription, or  by  applying  to  Professor  Charles  Pollen,  Cambridge  ; 
or  Mr.  Richard  H.  Dana,  Cambridge;  or  Mr.  Francis  J.  Grnnd, 
Boston. 
Boston,  October  Uth,  1834. 


APPENDIX.  627 

No.   VI. 
SPEECH  BEFORE  THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY. 

AT  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-slavery  Society, 
January  20th,  1836,  Rev.  Professor  Follen  offered  the  following  reso- 
lution : 

Resolved,  that  we  consider  the  Anti-slavery  cause  as  the  cause  of 
philanthropy,  with  regard  to  which  all  human  beings  ;  white  men  and 
colored  men,  citizens  and  foreigners,  men  and  women,  have  the  same 
duties  and  the  same  rights. 

Philanthropy  means  the  love  of  man  ;  and  the  love  of  man  is  the 
true  and  only  foundation  of  the  Anti-slavery  cause.  Our  whole  creed 
is  summed  up  in  this  single  position,  that  the  slave  is  a  man,  created 
by  God  in  his  own  image,  and,  therefore,  by  divine  right,  a  freeman. 
The  slave  is  a  man,  and  we  are  men  ;  this  is  the  only  needful  and 
all-sufficient  title,  from  which  every  Anti-slavery  society,  and  every 
Abolitionist,  derive  their  duties  and  their  rights.  Every  human  being, 
whether  colored  or  white,  foreigner  or  citizen,  man  or  woman,  is,  in 
virtue  of  a  common  nature,  a  rightful  and  responsible  defender  of  the 
natural  rights  of  all.  These  are  the  sentiments  of  every  Abolitionist: 
these  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which  was 
intended  to  make  this  whole  nation  one  great  Anti-slavery  Society. 

Professor  Follen  observed,  that  these  self-evident  truths  had  been 
opposed  in  full  by  the  consistent  enemies  of  human  freedom,  and  ob- 
structed in  detail  by  its  inconsistent  friends. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  been  advised,  if  we  really  wish  to 
benefit  (he  slave  and  the  colored  race  generally,  not  unnecessarily  to 
shock  the  feelings,  though  they  be  but  prejudices,  of  the  white 
people,  by  admitting  colored  persons  to  our  anti-slavery  meetings 
and  societies.  We  have  been  told,  that  many,  who  would  otherwise 
act  in  union  with  us,  are  kept  away  by  our  disregard  of  the  feelingg 
of  the  community  in  this  respect. 

Grant  the  fact,  that  this  piece  of  bad  policy  in  us  keeps  away  many 
who  would  otherwise  be  with  us  at  this  time,  in  this  hall,  or  in  some 
other  more  spacious  room,  which  their  personal  influence  might  open 
to  our  holy  cause,  which  still  has  to  go  begging  from  the  door  of  one 
Christian  church  to  another,  without  finding  admission.  But  what, 
I  would  ask,  is  the  great,  the  single  object  of  all  our  meetings  and 


628  APPENDIX. 

societies  ?  Have  we  any  other  object,  than  to  impress  upon  the  com- 
munity this  one  principle,  that  the  colored  man  is  a,  MAN  ?  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  not  the  prejudice,  which  would  have  us  exclude  col- 
ored people  from  our  meetings  and  societies  here,  the  same  which,  in 
the  Southern  States,  dooms  them  to  perpetual  bondage  ?  It  needs 
no  long  argument,  then,  to  prove,  that,  by  excluding  the  colored  peo- 
ple from  our  anti-slavery  proceedings,  we  should  not  only  deprive 
ourselves  of  many  faithful  fellow-laborers,  but,  by  complying  with 
that  inhuman  prejudice,  we  should  sanction  and  support  the  first 
principles  of  slavery,  as  well  as  give  the  lie  to  our  own  most  solemn 
professions.  In  his  private  intercourse,  in  his  personal  and  domestic 
relations,  let  every  one  choose  his  company  according  to  his  own 
principles,  or  his  own  whims.  But,  as  for  any  meetings  and  associa- 
tions designed  for  the  establishment  of  human  rights,  —  how  can  we 
have  the  effrontery  to  expect  the  white  slave-holder  of  the  South  to 
live  on  terms  of  civil  equality  with  his  colored  slave,  if  we,  the  white 
Abolitionists  of  the  North,  will  not  admit  colored  freemen  as  members 
of  our  anti-slavery  societies  ? 

This  may  be  sufficient  to  vindicate  the  first  part  of  my  resolution, 
claiming  for  colored  men  and  white  men  that  essential  equality  of 
rights  and  duties  with  tegard  to  the  Anti-slavery  cause,  which  should 
lead  to  united  action. 

In  the  second  place,  I  assert,  that,  with  regard  to  this  cause,  for- 
eigners and  citizens  have  the  same  duties  and  the  same  rights. 

Professor  Follen  observed,  that,  in  defending  this  clause  in  his  res- 
olution, he  felt,  or  rather  he  had  been  made  to  feel,  as  if  he  were,  in 
part,  speaking  in  self-defence.  For,  though  he  had  come  to  this  coun- 
try for  no  other  reason  than  to  live  under  a  government  of  equal 
laws,  which  was  not  U>  be  found  in  Europe  ;  and  though  for  eleven 
years  he  had  sustained  the  duties,  and  during  five  years  possessed  all 
the  rights,  of  the  citizens  of  this  Republic,  his  devotion  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  had  been  condemned,  both  in  private  and  in  public,  on 
the  grave  and  undeniable  charge  of  his  having  been  born  in  a  foreign 
land.  His  active  interest  in  this  cause  had  become  more  extensively 
known  by  the  "  Address  to  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  which 
he,  as  the  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  for  this  purpose  by 
the  New  England  Anti-slavery  Convention  of  1834,  had  been  called 
upon  to  draw  up,  and  which,  according  to  a  vote  of  the  Board  of 
Managers,  had  been  sent  to  every  member  of  Congress.  A  copy  of 


APPENDIX.  629 

this  address  had  been  returned  to  him  by  an  unknown  hand,  with  the 
words,  "  A  foreigner  should  recollect  the  protection  afforded  him  by 
the  institutions  of  this  country,  when  he  undertakes  to  cast  a  fire- 
brand among  the  people,  by  which  they  may  be  destroyed."  Similar 
ingenious  substitutes  for  argument,  being  rendered  more  striking  by 
studied  vulgarity,  had  appeared  in  some  of  our  newspapers.  For 
himself,  he  had  nothing  to  offer  to  the  distinguished  few,  who  had, 
notwithstanding  his  rightful  citizenship,  insisted  upon  treating  him 
as  a  foreigner,  unless  it  were  the  plea,  which  had  been  entered  for  him 
by  a  generous  friend,  "  that,  though  not  a  son  of  the  Pilgrims,  he  was 
himself  a  Pilgrim." 

I  should  have  passed  over,  in  silence,  these  petty  vexations,  as  soli- 
tary exceptions  to  the  uniform  experience  of  generous  confidence 
and  kindness,  which  I  have  never  ceased  to  enjoy  in  this  community, 
if  it  were  not  for  the  great  principle  involved  in  these  disagreeable 
trifles. 

Our  cause  is  the  cause  of  man ;  therefore  our  watchword  from 
the  beginning  has  been,  "  Our  country  is  the  world,  —  our  country 
men  are  all  mankind."  We  reverence  patriotism  as  a  virtue,  so  far  as 
it  is  philanthropy  applied  to  our  own  country,  while  we  look  down  upon 
it  as  a  vice,  so  far  as  it  would  sacrifice  the  rights  of  man,  —  the  moral 
to  the  selfish  interests  of  our  nation.  The  anti-slavery  cause,  then, 
being  the  cause  of  man,  knows  no  difference  between  natives  and 
foreigners.  Nay,  more,  we  have  here  amongst  us  large  numbers  of 
natives  of  this  country,  deprived,  without  a  shadow  of  right,  of  the 
fruits  of  their  labor,  stripped  of  the  sacred  rights  of  husbands  and  wives, 
parents  and  children,  citizens  and  Christians  ;  we  see  them  daily  driv- 
en out  to  merciless  toil,  sold  like  beasts,  imprisoned,  lacerated,  and 
degraded  without  redress.  Now  when  we  see  many  millions  of  our 
countrymen,  yea,  the  priests  and  the  rulers  of  the  people,  going  on 
in  their  own  course  of  prosperity,  and,  without  pity,  passing  by  an 
innocent  brother,  stripped  of  every  thing,  and  wounded  in  soul  and 
body ;  and  perchance  there  should  be  journeying  this  way  a  foreigner, 
who  should  have  compassion  on  him,  and  try  to  lift  him  up,  and  pour 
into  his  wounds  the  oil  of  consolation  and  the  wine  of  hope,  or,  from 
the  rich  treasury  of  his  heart,  should  pour  out  the  pure  gold  of  ster- 
ling truth  to  redeem  him  from  bondage, —  which  of  these,  I  ask, 
would  be  a  neighbour  to  him  who  had  been  robbed  and  wounded  ? 
53* 


630  APPENDIX. 

And  shall  we,  the  favored  citizens,  on  beholding  such  signal  kind- 
ness, cry  out  with  the  Jews  of  old,  "  He  is  a  Samaritan,  and  has  a 
devil !  "  —  or  with  our  modern,  national  bigots,  —  "  He  is  a  foreign- 
er ;  an  English  emissary  ;  mob  him!  tar  and  feather  him  !  " 

We  look  upon  the  foreigner,  who  holds  up  before  us  the  law  of 
liberty,  proclaimed  in  our  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  opposition 
to  the  law  of  servitude,  imposed  and  enforced  by  our  free  institutions 
upon  one  sixth  of  our  population,  as  a  true  friend ;  and  we  see,  in  his 
open  rebuke,  the  surest  pledge  of  confidence  in  our  love  of  truth  and 
sense  of  justice.  On  the  other  hand,  the  violent  attempts  at  prevent- 
ing the  free  expression  of  sentiment  on  this  great  moral  subject,  by 
strangers  or  citizens,  —  the  lawless,  shameless,  and  merciless  proceed- 
ings against  all  who  are  convicted  or  suspected  of  nothing  worse 
than  a  consistent  adherence  to  the  first  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  seem  to  us  more  criminal  when  perpetrated  or  tol- 
erated in  this  country  than  in  any  other,  simply  because  we  have 
"  pledged  our  lives,  our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor,"  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  equal  rights  of  all.  Our  Constitution  has  secured  a  gov- 
ernment of  law,  freedom  of  conscience,  the  liberty  of  speaking  and 
printing,  to  every  citizen,  nay,  to  every  stranger  sojourning  amongst 
us.  As  citizens  of  the  world,  as  members  of  the  human  family,  as 
Christians,  we  look  upon  every  one  as  a  fellow-citizen,  as  a  neigh- 
bour, who  defends  the  rights,  and  respects  the  feelings,  of  all  men; 
while  he  who  does  not  see  in  every  human  being  an  equal  and  a 
brother,  whether  he  be  born  here  or  elsewhere,  he  alone  is  regarded 
by  us  as  a  stranger  and  an  enemy. 

And  now,  Mr.  President,  I  come  to  the  last  topic  of  my  resolution. 
I  maintain,  that,  with  regard  to  the  anti-slavery  cause,  men  and 
women  have  the  same  duties  and  the  same  rights.  The  ground  I 
take  on  this  point  is  very  plain.  1  wish  to  spare  you,  I  wish  to  spare 
myself,  the  worthless  and  disgusting  task  of  replying,  in  detail,  to  all 
the  coarse  attacks  and  flattering  sophisms  bv  which  men  have  en- 
deavoured to  entice  or  to  drive  women  from  this  and  from  many  other 
spheres  of  moral  action.  "  Go  home  and  spin  !  "  is  the  well-meaning 
advice  of  the  domestic  tyrant  of  the  old  school.  "  Conquer  by  personal 
charms  and  fashionable  attractions  !  "  is  the  brilliant  career  marked 
out  for  her  by  the  idols  and  the  idolaters  of  fashion.  "  Never  step 
out  of  the  bounds  of  decorum  and  the  customary  ways  of  doing  good," 
is  the  sage  advice  of  maternal  caution.  "  Rule  by  obedience,  by 


APPENDIX.  631 

submission  sway  !  "  is  the  golden  saying  of  the  moralist  poet,  sanc- 
tioning female  servitude,  and  pointing  out  a  resort  and  compensation 
in  female  cunning.  What  with  the  fear  of  the  insolent  remarks  about 
women,  in  which  those  of  the  dominant  sex,  whose  bravery  is  the 
generous  offspring  of  conscious  impunity,  are  particularly  apt  to  in- 
dulge, and  with  the  still  stronger  fear  of  being  thought  unfetninine, 
—  it  is,  indeed,  a  proof  of  uncommon  moral  courage,  or  of  an  over- 
powering sense  of  religious  duty  and  sympathy  with  the  oppressed, 
that  a  woman  is  induced  to  embrace  the  unpopular,  unfashionable, 
obnoxious  principles  of  the  Abolitionists.  Popular  opinion,  the  habits 
of  society,  are  all  calculated  to  lead  women  to  consider  the  place,  the 
privileges,  and  the  duties,  which  etiquette  has  assigned  to  them  as 
their  peculiar  portion,  as  more  important  than  those  which  nature  has 
given  them  in  common  with  men.  Men  have  at  all  times  been  in- 
clined to  allow  to  women  peculiar  privileges,  while  withholding  from 
them  essential  rights.  In  the  progress  of  civilization  and  Christian- 
ity, one  right  after  another  has  been  conceded,  one  occupation  after 
another  has  been  placed  within  the  reach  of  women.  Still  are  we 
far  from  a  practical  acknowledgment  of  the  simple  truth,  that  the  ra- 
tional and  moral  nature  of  man  is  the  foundation  of  all  rights  and 
duties,  and  that  women  as  well  as  men  are  rational  and  moral  beings. 
It  is  on  this  account  that  I  look  upon  the  formation  of  Ladies'  anti- 
slavery  societies  as  an  event  of  the  highest  interest,  not  only  for  its 
direct  beneficial  bearing  on  the  cause  of  emancipation,  but  still  more 
as  an  indication  of  the  moral  growth  of  society.  Women  begin  to 
feel,  that  the  place  which  men  have  marked  out  for  them  is  but  a 
small  part  of  what  society  owes  to  them,  and  what  they  themselves 
owe  to  society,  to  the  whole  human  family,  and  to  that  Power  to 
whom  each  and  all  are  indebted  and  accountable  for  the  use  of  the 
powers  intrusted  to  them.  It  is,  indeed,  a  consoling  thought,  that 
such  is  the  providential  adaptation  of  all  things,  that  the  toil  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  slave,  however  unprofitable  to  himself,  and  however 
hopeless,  are  not  wholly  thrown  away  and  vain;  —  that  the  master 
who  has  deprived  him  of  the  fruits  of  his  industry,  of  every  motive 
and  opportunity  for  exercising  his  highest  faculties,  has  not  been  able 
to  prevent  his  exercising,  unconsciously,  a  moral  and  spiritual  influ- 
ence all  over  the  world,  breaking  down  every  unnatural  restraint, 
and  calling  forth  the  simplest  and  deepest  of  all  human  emotions,  the 
feeling  of  man  for  his  fellow-man,  and  bringing  out  the  strongest  in- 


632  APPENDIX. 

tellectual  and  moral  powers  to  his  rescue.  It  is,  indeed,  natural,  that 
the  cry  of  misery,  the  call  for  help,  that  is  now  spreading  far  and 
wide,  and  penetrating  the  inmost  recesses  of  society,  should  thrill, 
with  peculiar  power,  through  the  heart  of  woman.  For  it  is  woman, 
injured,  insulted  woman,  that  exhibits  the  most  baneful  and  hateful 
influences  of  slavery.  But  I  cannot  speak  of  what  the  free  woman 
ought  and  must  feel  for  her  enslaved  sister, — because  I  am  over- 
whelmed by  the  thought  of  what  we  men,  we,  who  have  mothers, 
and  wives,  and  daughters,  should  not  only  feel,  but  do,  and  dare,  and 
sacrifice,  to  drain  the  marshes  whose  exhalations  infect  the  moral  at- 
mosphere of  society. 

The  remarks  I  have  made  in  support  of  my  resolution  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  words.  The  only  object  of  the  anti-slavery 
societies  is,  to  restore  the  slave  to  his  natural  rights.  To  promote 
this  object,  all  human  beings,  white  men  and  colored  men,  citizens 
and  foreigners,  men  and  women,  have  the  same  moral  calling,  simply 
because,  in  virtue  of  a  common  rational  and  moral  nature,  all  human 
beings  are  in  duly  bound,  and  divinely  authorized,  to  defend  their 
own  and  each  other's  natural  rights. 

Our  rights,  our  duties,  with  regard  to  the  oppressed,  require  and 
authorize  the  use  of  all  lawful  and  moral  means,  to  accomplish  the 
great  object  of  deliverance.  As  members  of  this  Union,  we  are  de- 
barred all  direct  political  influence  with  regard  to  the  legal  existence 
of  slavery  in  other  States.  But  slavery  in  the  District  6f  Columbia 
and  in  the  Territories,  as  well  as  the  internal  slave-trade,  are  evils 
within  the  reach  of  our  Federal  Legislature,  and,  consequently,  with- 
in the  control  and  responsibility  of  every  citizen  of  the  Union. 

The  guilt  of  the  existence  of  slavery  within  the  bounds  of  the  Fed- 
eral legislation,  rests  upon  every  citizen  who  is  not  exerting  himself 
to  the  utmost,  by  free  discussion  and  petitions  to  Congress,  that  this 
cruel  and  disgraceful  inconsistency  may  be  removed.  But  the  sphere 
of  moral  action  is  not  confined  within  the  limits  of  our  political  rights. 
The  North  is  connected  with  the  South  by  numerous  relations,  which 
may  be  made  so  many  channels  of  influence  on  the  minds  and  con- 
sciences of  the  slave-holders.  There  are  family  connexions,  commer- 
cial relations,  political  and  religious  interests,  by  which  individuals 
of  different  States  are  brought  in  contact,  and  a  continual  intercourse 
is  thus  kept  up  between  the  free  North  and  the  slave-holding  South. 
With  all  these  means  of  private  intercourse  within  our  reach,  we  re- 


APPEJNDIX.  633 

quire  no  alteration  in  the  Constitution,  we  demand  no  especial  aid 
from  Congress  or  from  any  State  Legislature,  to  induce  the  slave- 
holders, by  moral  motives  and  by  considerations  of  enlightened  self- 
interest,  to  rid  themselves  of  this  great  evil.  We  require  of  govern- 
ment nothing  but  to  be  protected  in  the  exercise  of  one  undoubted 
constitutional  right,  a  right,  which,  as  Gerrit  Smith  justly  observes, 
has  a  deeper  foundation  than  the  Constitution  which  solemnly  se- 
cures it,  being  grounded  on  the  nature  of  man  and  the  sovereign  de- 
cree of  his  Creator.  Let  us  dismiss  all  controversy  concerning  the 
exciting  question,  whether,  or  how  far,  the  Constitution  sanctions 
slavery  ;  but  let  us  assert  and  defend  the  freedom  of  communication 
by  speaking,  writing,  and  printing,  which  is  the  first  requisite  of  the 
freeman,  and  the  last  hope  of  the  slave.  Slavery  and  free  discussion, 
Sir,  it  is  well  known,  cannot  live  together.  They  will  quarrel  until 
one  of  them  quits  the  neighbourhood. 

We  claim  freedom  of  communication  with  the  slave-holder  of  the 
South,  as  well  as  with  the  advocates  of  slavery,  and  those  who  think 
themselves  justified  in  their  neutrality  at  the  North.  We  contend 
with  a  national  prejudice  ;  we  aim  at  a  national  reform.  Every  indi- 
vidual, who  is  free  from  the  long-cherished  and  deep-rooted  prejudice, 
which  prevents  the  white  men  of  the  North,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
South,  from  looking  upon  the  colored  man  as  a  man  and  a  brother, 
is  in  duty  bound  to  become  a  fellow-laborer  in  this  work  of  reform. 
For  this  reason,  our  societies  are  founded,  not  on  the  exclusive  prin- 
ciple of  election,  but  on  the  broad,  philanthropic  ground  of  free  ad- 
mission ;  we  elect  no  one,  but  cordially  receive  every  one  who  may 
elect  himself.  Our  audiences  do  not  consist  of  select  companies ; 
but  as  the  Report,  which  you  have  accepted,  eloquently  sets  forth,  in 
humble  imitation  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles,  we  address  all  who  have 
ears  to  hear  and  will  hear. 

We  are  told,  we  must  not  agitate  this  subject ;  —  let  it  alone,  and  it 
will  remedy  itself.  This  is  not  the  course  of  Providence.  Such  ref- 
ormations are  never  accomplished  without  human  means.  God  will 
not  indulge  us  in  our  indolence,  and  do  the  work  without  our  instru- 
mentality. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  so  far  as  those  in  bonds  are  con- 
cerned, is  a  dead  letter;  and  we  must  not  rest  from  our  labors  until 
it  is  raised  from  the  dead. 


634  APPENDIX. 

No.  VII. 

LIST  OF  SUBJECTS  FOR  THE  JOURNAL  TO  BE  ENTITLED 
"ALL  SIDES." 

RELIGION. 

Religion  and  unbelief. 

Miraculous  and  natural  origin  of  Christianity. 
Character  and  authority  of  the  Bible. 
Creeds  and  no  creeds. 
Forms  of  worship. 

Unitarian  and  Trinitarian  Christianity. 
Roman  Catholicism  and  Protestantism. 
Arians  and  Humanitarians. 
Different  doctrines  with  regard  to  a  future  state. 
Different  Christian  sects. 
Direct  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Revivals.     Conversions. 
Millennium. 
Missions. 

A  learned  ministry. 
Sunday  schools. 
Prose  lytism. 

MORALS  AND  EDUCATION. 
Utilitarian  doctrine. 
Free  agency  and  necessity. 
Conscience,  or  moral  sense. 
Moral  duties  and  legal  obligations. 
Self-love  and  the  benevolent  principle. 
Education,  private  and  public. 
Associations  and  individual  effort. 
Parties  in  religion  and  politics. 
Monitorial  system. 
Study  of  the  classics. 
Common  and  liberal  education. 
Principle  of  ambition  and  of  emulation. 
Public  days,  religious  and  political. 


APPENDIX.  635 


LAW  AND  POLITICS. 

Natural  rights  of  man,  legal  rights,  freedom  and  slavery. 

Democracy,  aristocracy,  monarchy. 

Representative  government,  representation  of  men,  of  wealth,  or  of 
other  interests. 

Two  chambers  or  one. 

Free  trade  and  the  restrictive  system. 

Right  of  interfering  in  the  affairs  of  other  nations. 

Political  rights  of  women. 

Universal  suffrage. 

War  and  peace,  Congress  of  nations. 

Prison  discipline,  solitary  and  social  confinement. 

Capital  punishment. 

Imprisonment  for  debt. 

Pauper  laws. 

Common  and  individual  property,  inequality  of  property. 

Wide  and  strict  interpretation  of  the  Constitution  of  the   United 
States  of  America. 

State  rights  and  union. 

Right  of  the  State  to  tax  the  citizens  for  universal  education,  or  for 
the  support  of  Religion  or  general  government. 

Corporations. 

Relative  rights  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and 
servant. 

Wages,  proportion  to  income.     Wages  of  men  and  women. 

Factories. 


No.  VIII. 
PETITION   FOR  THE   PARDON  OF  ABiNER   KNEELAND. 

To  his  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  the  ) 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  :     ) 

THE  undersigned  respectfully  represent,  that  they  are  informed, 
that  Abner  Kneeland,  of  the  city  of  Boston,  has  been  found  guilty  of 
the  crime  of  Blasphemy,  for  having  published,  in  a  certain  newspaper 
called  "  The  Boston  Investigator,"  his  disbelief  in  the  existence  of 
God,  in  the  following  words  : 


636  APPENDIX. 

"  Universal ists  believe  in  a  God  which  I  do  not ;  but  believe  that 
their  God,  with  all  his  moral  attributes,  (aside  from  nature  itself,)  is 
nothing  more  than  a  chimera  of  their  own  imagination." 

Your  petitioners  have  learned,  by  an  examination  of  the  record  and 
documents  in  the  case,  made  by  one  of  their  number,  that  the  convic- 
tion of  said  Kneeland,  proceeded  on  the  ground  above  slated.  For 
though  the  indictment  originally  included  two  other  publications,  one 
of  a  highly  irreverent,  and  the  other  of  a  grossly  indecent  character  ; 
yet,  it  appears  by  the  Report,  that,  at  the  trial,  the  prosecuting  officer 
mainly  relied  on  the  sentence  above  quoted,  and  that  the  Judge  who 
tried  the  case,  confined  his  charge  wholly  to  stating  the  legal  con- 
struction of  its  terms,  and  the  law  applicable  to  it. 

In  these  circumstances,  the  undersigned  respectfully  pray,  that 
your  Excellency  will  grant  to  the  said  Kneeland  an  unconditional 
pardon,  for  the  offence  of  which  he  has  been  adjudged  guilty.  And 
they  ask  this,  not  from  any  sympathy  with  ihe  convicted  individual, 
who  is  personally  unknown  to  most  or  all  of  them  ;  nor  from  any 
approbation  of  the  doctrines  professed  by  him,  which  are  believed  by 
your  petitioners  to  be  as  pernicious  and  degrading  as  they  are  false  ; 
but 

Because  the  punishment  proposed  to  be  inflicted  is  believed  to  be  at 
variance  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  and  our  age,  and  with  the 
soundest  expositions  of  those  civil  and  religious  rights  which  are  at 
once  founded  in  our  nature,  and  guarantied  by  the  constitutions  of 
the  United  States  and  this  Commonwealth  ; 

Because  the  freedom  of  speech  and  the  press  is  the  chief  instru- 
ment of  the  progress  of  truth  and  of  social  improvements,  and  is 
never  to  be  restrained  by  legislation,  except  when  it  invades  the 
rights  of  others,  or  instigates  to  specific  crimes; 

Because,  if  opinion  is  to  be  subjected  to  penalties,  it  is  impossible 
to  determine  where  punishment  shall  stop ;  there  being  few  or  no 
opinions,  in  which  an  adverse  party  may  not  see  threatenings  of  ruin 
to  the  state ; 

Because  truths  essential  to  the  existence  of  society  must  be  so  pal- 
pable as  to  need  no  protection  from  the  magistrate ; 

Because  the  assumption  by  government  of  a  right  to  prescribe  or 
repress  opinions  has  been  the  ground  of  the  grossest  depravations  of 
religion,  and  of  the  most  grinding  despotisms  ; 


APPENDIX.  637 

, 

Because  religion  needs  no  support  from  penal  law,  and  is  grossly 
dishonored  by  interpositions  for  its  defence,  which  imply  that  it  can- 
not be  trusted  to  its  own  strength  and  to  the  weapons  of  reason  and 
persuasion  in  the  hands  of  its  friends  ; 

Because,  by  punishing  infidel  opinions,  we  shake  one  of  the  strong- 
est foundations  of  faith,  namely,  the  evidence  which  arises  to  religion 
from  the  fact,  that  it  stands  firm  and  gathers  strength  amid  the  se- 
verest and  most  unfettered  investigations  of  its  claims ; 

Because  error  of  opinion  is  never  so  dangerous,  as  when  goaded 
into  fanaticism  by  persecution,  or  driven  by  threatenings  to  the  use  of 
secret  arts ; 

Because  it  is  well  known,  that  the  most  licentious  opinions  have, 
by  a  natural  reaction,  sprung  up  in  countries,  where  the  laws  have 
imposed  the  severest  restraint  on  thought  and  discussion  ; 

Because  the  influence  of  hurtful  doctrines  is  often  propagated  by 
the  sympathy  which  legal  severities  awaken  towards  their  supporters ; 

Because  we  are  unwilling  that  a  man,  whose  unhappy  course  has 
drawn  on  him  general  disapprobation,  should,  by  a  sentence  of  the 
law,  be  exalted  into  a  martyr,  or  become  identified  with  the  sacred 
cause  of  freedom  ;  and  lastly, 

Because  we  regard  with  filial  jealousy  the  honor  of  this  Common- 
wealth, and  are  unwilling  that  it  should  be  exposed  to  reproach,  as 
clinging  obstinately  to  illiberal  principles,  which  the  most  enlightened 
minds  have  exploded. 


END    OF    VOL.  I. 


, 

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^ 

*    * 


VOL.  i.  54 


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